System and method for using a mobile device as an input device for surveys at a live event

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for interacting with audience members in an event, each of the potential attendees having available thereto a unique identifier. The method comprises creating, for an attendee, a unique ID (UID) on a mobile wireless device (MWD) by the steps of inputting to the MWD one of the unique identifiers, combining the obtained unique identifier with a UID time stamp at the time of creation of the UID; receiving with a server on a first wireless channel communications from the MWD; registering the UID at the physical location of the event; generating a visual query; displaying on the MWD response indicators; receiving at the server from the registered attendee a response, to the query over the first wireless channel; and storing in a database on the server the received response in association with the displayed query.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/360,697, filed on Nov. 23, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHODFOR USING A MOBILE DEVICE AS AN INPUT DEVICE FOR SURVEYS AT A LIVE EVENT(Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-33363), which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/360,697 is aContinuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/146,464,filed on May 4, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATION OF UNIQUEIDENTIFICATION FOR USE IN GATHERING SURVEY DATA FROM A MOBILE DEVICE ATA LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-33059), which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,988, filed on Nov. 23, 2015,entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTRAPOLATING STATISTICAL DATA GENERATEDFROM A MOBILE DEVICE AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32880), whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/146,464 also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/258,982, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATION OF UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION FOR USE INGATHERING SURVEY DATA FROM A MOBILE DEVICE AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt.No. FEVR-32876), which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/146,464 also claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,983, filed on Nov.23, 2015, entitled METHOD FOR TRACKING ATTENDEE PARTICIPATION IN USING ASOFTWARE APPLICATION AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32877), whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/146,464 also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/258,985, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING A MOBILE DEVICE AS AN INPUT DEVICE FORSURVEYS AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32878), which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/146,464 also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/258,987, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING A PURCHASE USING CARRIER INFORMATIONFOR A MOBILE DEVICE (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32879), which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/146,464 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/360,697 also claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,994, filed on Nov. 23, 2015,entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MOBILE DEVICE SURVEY INTERFACEBASED ON VISUAL INDICIA (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32882), U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/258,996, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR GENERATING A DIGITAL IMAGE BASED ON INPUT FROM MOBILE DEVICETO ALLOW CROWD TO CONTROL VISUAL RESULTS OF RESPONSE (Atty. Dkt. No.FEVR-32883), U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,989, filed on Nov.23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SOCIAL MEASUREMENT OFINDIVIDUALS BASED ON DATA COLLECTED FROM MOBILE DEVICE (Atty. Dkt. No.FEVR-32884), U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,997, filed on Nov.23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING A CONTEST BASED ONINPUT FROM MOBILE DEVICE IN A CROWD-BASED RESPONSE SYSTEM (Atty. Dkt.No. FEVR-32885), and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,982, filedon Nov. 23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATION OF UNIQUEIDENTIFICATION FOR USE IN GATHERING SURVEY DATA FROM A MOBILE DEVICE ATA LIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32876). U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/360,697 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/258,983, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitled METHOD FOR TRACKINGATTENDEE PARTICIPATION IN USING A SOFTWARE APPLICATION AT A LIVE EVENT(Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32877), U.S. Provisional Application No.62/258,985, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USINGA MOBILE DEVICE AS AN INPUT DEVICE FOR SURVEYS AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty.Dkt. No. FEVR-32878), U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,987, filedon Nov. 23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING A PURCHASEUSING CARRIER INFORMATION FOR A MOBILE DEVICE (Atty. Dkt. No.FEVR-32879), U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,988, filed on Nov.23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTRAPOLATING STATISTICAL DATAGENERATED FROM A MOBILE DEVICE AT A LIVE EVENT (Atty.

Dkt. No. FEVR-32880), and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,990,filed on Nov. 23, 2015, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTRAPOLATINGSTATISTICAL DATA GENERATED FROM A MOBILE DEVICE AT A LIVE EVENT FORDETERMINING MERCHANTABILITY (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32881). U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/258,994 is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,996 isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/258,989 is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,997 is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No.62/258,982 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/258,983 is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,985 isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/258,987 is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/258,988 is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No.62/258,990 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/277,270, filed on Jan. 11, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FORUSING DATA FROM A MOBILE DEVICE SURVEY SYSTEM FOR MESSAGE SELECTION AT ALIVE EVENT (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32900). This application also claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,888, filed on Jan.12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING A PURCHASE FROM AVENDOR USING CARRIER INFORMATION FOR A MOBILE DEVICE (Atty. Dkt. No.FEVR-32951). This application also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/277,941, filed on Jan. 12, 2016, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING DATA FROM MOBILE DEVICES WITHIN A WIRELESSMESH NETWORK (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32952). This application also claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,899, filed onJan. 12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BUILDING A SOCIALMEASUREMENT MATRIX (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32953). This application alsoclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,903, filedon Jan. 12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEASONAL EVENTDEPENDENT REPORTING (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32954). This application alsoclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,914, filedon Jan. 12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EVENT BASED INTERACTIVEPOLLING (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32957). This application also claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,917, filed on Jan.12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING COMPARATIVELIFESTYLE TRIGGERS (Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32959). This application alsoclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,943, filedon Jan. 12, 2016, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING POLLINGRESULTS FROM INPUTS PROVIDED AT THE SUPER BOWL (Atty. Dkt. No.FEVR-32966). This application also claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/277,918, filed on Jan. 12, 2016, entitledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING DATA FROM MOBILE DEVICES WITHIN A GEOFENCE(Atty. Dkt. No. FEVR-32967). U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,270is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/277,888 is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,941 is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No.62/277,899 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/277,903 is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,914 isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/277,917 is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/277,943 is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety. U.S. Provisional Application No.62/277,918 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates to generally to the interface betweenadvertisers, media companies, leagues, sponsors, underwriters, partnersand media partners, leagues, teams, franchises, sponsors, underwriters,media partners, conferences, venue specific messengers, andchampionships, as well as a target audience, and collecting statisticsrelating thereto.

BACKGROUND

When advertisers, media companies, leagues, sponsors, underwriters,partners and media partners, leagues, teams, franchises, sponsors,underwriters, media partners, conferences, venue specific messengers,and championships (“the messenger”) distribute their advertising withrespect to a particular venue, it is important that they have some typeof feedback as to the effectiveness of these advertisements. The mainproblem that exists today in certain venues is that the advertisement isdisplayed on a screen at, for example, a football game, and it isexpected that a certain portion of the attendees are viewing the screen.However, some attendees may have left their seats and gone forrefreshments or they may actually, in the current environment, theoccupied with their mobile devices. As such, it is difficult for anadvertiser to have any feedback as to the “effectiveness” of aparticular advertisement at reaching the eyes of the attendees.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding, reference is now made to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingDrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall diagrammatic view of a venue utilizing adisclosed embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic view of multiple attendees interfacedwith a screen on which advertisements are presented;

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of a single attendee interfacing with thescreen and choices provided thereon and their mobile units and theselections provided thereon;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart depicting the top level login operation;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart illustrating the top level queryoperation;

FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate examples of the initial registration whenentering the venue;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart for the overall registration operation;

FIG. 7A illustrates a flowchart depicting the payment operation;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart depicting the overall operation ofcreating the unique ID;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart depicting the operation of creating theunique ID at the user's device;

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate flowcharts for launching the applicationbased on a presence determination at the gate of the entrance;

FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the screen interface with theuser for entering the ticket information and creating the unique ID;

FIG. 11B illustrates a screen view illustrating the fixed selection ofpossible response buttons provided to a user;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart depicting the query operation forgenerating a query for viewing by the user;

FIG. 13 illustrates the data structure of information assembled at andtransmitted by the Mobile Unit;

FIGS. 15-18 illustrate diagrammatic views of the various records thatare generated and populated in the local database;

FIG. 19 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the overall relationshipbetween multiple records and unique IDs in the system;

FIG. 20 illustrates a detail of the records illustrated in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the template utilized forcreating a query;

FIG. 22 illustrates a flowchart for a process of tracking attendeeparticipation;

FIG. 23 illustrate a diagrammatic view of an alternate embodiment foroffering merchandise for sale;

FIG. 24 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the overall system forfacilitating the embodiment of FIG. 23;

FIG. 25 illustrates a flowchart for the overall operation of the systemof FIG. 23;

FIG. 26 illustrates a flowchart for ensuring that only a single seat isassociated with a unique ID;

FIG. 27 illustrates a flowchart for analyzing and collecting statisticsvia the crowd-based response input;

FIG. 28 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the relationship between thequery and the UID;

FIG. 29 illustrates the overall response that can be collected of thatparticular query;

FIG. 30 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the mapping of queries toSCIDs;

FIG. 31 illustrates a detailed example of a mapping of various QIDs toSCIDs;

FIG. 32 illustrates a diagrammatic view of one particular statisticalspread over multiple queries presented throughout an event at a liveperformance within a given venue;

FIG. 33 illustrates a flowchart depicting one embodiment of a processfor extrapolating from statistical data gathered from mobile devices ata live event;

FIG. 34 illustrates an overall flowchart of the audience participationfunction;

FIG. 35 illustrates a flowchart for the wave example of audienceparticipation;

FIG. 36 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the display for the waveresponse;

FIG. 37 illustrates a flowchart for the noise example of audienceparticipation;

FIG. 38 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the display for the noiseaudience participation response;

FIG. 39 illustrates a flowchart for the operation of running a contest;

FIG. 40 illustrates a diagrammatic view of populating the UID record fora particular mobile unit;

FIG. 41 illustrates sets of media messages which can be presented;

FIG. 42 illustrates sets of queries that can be presented;

FIG. 43 illustrates a flowchart showing how queries and media messagesare chosen and presented;

FIG. 44 illustrates the first part of an embodiment which uses a mediamessage as a commercial for a truck;

FIG. 45 illustrates the second part of an embodiment which uses a mediamessage in the form of a commercial for a truck;

FIG. 46 illustrates a stadium with attendees who respond to queries withtaps to their mobile devices;

FIG. 47 illustrates the embodiment of users checking-in on the mobiledevices;

FIG. 48 illustrates a branching decision tree of queries and mediamessages;

FIG. 49 illustrates the selection of a full-length music video based onselection from short video clips;

FIG. 50 illustrates how the analysis of queries responses are used toselect the next query;

FIG. 51 illustrates a flowchart showing the process by which a query isselected;

FIG. 52 illustrates a flowchart depicting another embodiment for anoperation of a merchandising feature area;

FIG. 53 illustrates a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of a systemfor providing items to be sold based on visual indicia within the rangeof a beacon;

FIG. 54 illustrates a flowchart depicting one embodiment of a method forpurchasing items to be sold based on visual indicia within the range ofa beacon;

FIG. 55 illustrates a stadium with several mesh networks;

FIG. 56 illustrates several overlapping mesh networks;

FIG. 57 illustrates several mesh networks connected to external networksvia a hotspot;

FIG. 58 illustrates an embodiment using a mesh network;

FIG. 59 illustrates another embodiment using a mesh network;

FIG. 60 illustrates yet another embodiment using a mesh network;

FIG. 61 illustrates a diagrammatic view of one embodiment a relationaldatabase trending determination model;

FIG. 62 illustrates one embodiment of an example database reportretrieved from a database in which query and response data is stored;

FIG. 63 illustrates a flowchart depicting one embodiment of a reportgeneration method;

FIG. 64 illustrates one embodiment of an example seasonal databasereport retrieved from a database in which query and response data isstored;

FIG. 65 illustrates a flowchart depicting one embodiment of a seasonalreport generation method;

FIG. 66 illustrates representations of multiple presentations and theresponses received from post-presentation queries;

FIG. 67 illustrates a flowchart showing the process of determininglifestyle triggers for presentations;

FIG. 68 illustrates a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of recognizingan individual entering a geo-fenced venue; and

FIG. 69 illustrates a flowchart depicting one embodiment of ageo-fencing application trigger process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of theoverall operation at a particular venue utilizing the disclosedembodiment. In this illustration, there is illustrated a single venue102, such as a football stadium, a concert hall, or anything thatrequires a ticket to grant entrance thereto and also provide some typeof seating chart such that each ticket holder has a defined seatassociated therewith or assigned thereto. This venue 102 has providedtherefore, by example, two gates 104 and 106. In the center of the venue102 or disposed throughout the venue 102 there is provided some type ofvisual/audio interfaced 108. Throughout the following description, thiswill typically be referred to as a visual interface providing a visualcue of some sort. However, it should be understood that the cue is sometype of information that can be transmitted from one or more locationswithin the venue 102 in the form of a video or an audio cue or some typeof cue that can be sensed by an attendee. Although this visual cue 108is illustrated as being in the center of the venue 102, it should beunderstood that it can be located at different locations throughout thevenue 102. Additionally, the visual cue from multiple locations couldall be the same cue, or it could actually be different cues.

There are illustrated a plurality of Mobile Units 110 labeled “M” whichwill be referred to hereinafter by the terminology “MU” 110. Each ofthese MUs 110 is associated with an individual, and that individual hasassociated therewith a ticket, this ticket referred to by a referencenumeral 112. The only MUs that are illustrated as having a ticket 112associated therewith are those that are entering the gate 104 or thegate 106. Each of these MUs 110 has the ability to communicate via awireless link to one of the plurality of wireless network receivers 116disposed throughout the venue 102. These wireless network receiversprovide substantially full coverage around the venue 102, and each ofthe wires receivers 116 are connected directly to a local central office120 (CO) which basically has a computer that is interfaced with a localdatabase 122. This database 122 and local central office 120 areconnected through a global network 124 (Internet) to a central remoteoffice 126, which has associated therewith a central database 126.

The wireless receivers can be any type of wireless receiver network, forexample, a Wi-Fi-based network. However, it should be understood thatany other type of network could be utilized. Each of these wirelessreceivers 116 has associated therewith a unique ID in the form of anSSID that can be recognized by the MU 110 and, once a communication linkis effected between the MU 110 and the wireless receiver 116, a physicallocation can be established with respect to the physical location of thevenue 102. Since the local central office 120 is aware of its locationand it is connected directly to the wireless receivers 116, the locationof the venue 102 can be associated with any data in the local database122. This allows any data associated with the local database 122 to alsobe associated with any information collected from attendees at the eventoccurring in the venue 102.

Additionally, the wireless interface between each of the MUs 110 and thelocal central office 120 could be effected with a mesh network. Thecommunication protocol could use a Zigbee network, a Thread network, orany type of network that allows data to actually be transmitted to amaster station to be transferred from one MU 110 to another MU 110.

In the overall operation, as will be described hereinbelow, a particularuser will enter the venue 102 and initiate an application on theirassociated MU 110 which will create a unique ID (UID) associated withthat particular device at that particular time based upon informationcontained on their individual ticket which will also identify the seatto which they are assigned. The user will then provide a response ofsome sort to possibly a visual cue received locally and send the UID andresponse to the local CO 120. This will result in a registration of thatparticular device with the local CO 120. Thereafter, visual cues aredisplayed on the display 108 with choices. These choices are associatedwith preset choice buttons on the MU 110 that, when selected, provideresponses that are utilized by the local CO 120 for collectingstatistics on the attendees.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of aplurality of individuals 202 with their associated MUs 110. The display108 is illustrated as providing a visual cue in the form of some type ofprogram, advertisement or the such that will be followed with orassociated with a visual cue that, if the individual 102 is viewing thescreen and is paying attention to the advertisement, will be enticed toactually make a selection and, upon making a selection, this selectionor responses sent back via the wireless receiver 116 two the local CO120.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of asingle individual presented with three responses on the display 108,these being illustrated as the letter A, the letter B, and the letter C.Each of these is associated with some type of information which allowsthe individual 202 to discern these particular choices. They may be sometype of contest providing different selections. It may be that theparticular cue requires a single response just to indicate that the useris paying attention to the screen. For example, it could be a contestthat allows a responder the possibility of entering a contest, i.e.,“press A on your device to enter your seat number in a lottery to win acertain prize.” The MU 110 is provided thereon a screen 302 having thosethree selected letters available for choices. By placing their fingerover one of the selections, the user creates a response that is thencombined with a timestamp 304 and the created UID 306 back to the localCO 120 for processing thereof. It should be understood that, once theUID is created by the MU 110, this is now a UID that is carriedtemporarily in the MU 110 until the MU 110 either leaves the venue 102or there is some type of timeout period of, for example, two hours.

The result of this overall operation is that a device, once entering thegate and initiating the application, creates a UID on the device thatdefines that device in a local database. Thereafter, any response can becorrelated with the query in the substance of that query as long as theresponse is sent within a particular time window. For example, a querywould be transmitted to the attendees and, during the transmission orslightly thereafter, there is a defined time window within which aresponse must be made. As such, even though the button associated withthe letter A is selected for different queries, it is easy todiscriminate in the database what information that particular responsewas associated with.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a flowchart of the toplevel login operation, which is initiated at a block 402. This thenproceeds to a decision block 404 to determine if a new user has enteredthe system. This is typically determined at the gate when the userpasses through the gate or when an application is initiated. This mayalso be determined when a user answers an initial query, in addition toproviding the user's seat number. If it is indicated that a new user ispresent, the program proceeds along a “Y” path to a block 406 to loginan initial unique ID (UID) for that device. The program then proceeds toa function block 408 in order to register payment at the login event foreach instance of a device passing through the gate or initiating theirapplication. This payment operation will be described in more detailbut, in general, the way that revenue is collected on this particularoverall operation is that a flat fee is provided for each device that isregistered for a particular event. The flat fee may be for any value.Thereafter, all of the data collected, whether the data is voluminous ornot is immaterial to the overall revenue-generating model. Thus, then adefined amount of money can be collected depending upon the number ofattendees while the advertisement level or volume has no effect on theoverall revenue model. However, data is, to a large extent, owned by thecentral office. After registration of the login instance and theregistration of the payment for that instance, a new object is createdfor that new UID in the local database, as indicated by a block 410. Theflowchart then loops back to the beginning.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a flowchart for the toplevel query operation, which is initiated at a block 502. The programthen flows to a block 504 in order to select a new query from the queueof queries. In general, when the system is set up, there will typicallybe some type of programming control over the information that ispresented to the attendees at the event in the venue 102. This will,from overall point of view, allow each query to be independent withinthe database. However, they will be placed in the queue so that they canbe individually selected at particular times and associated withparticular advertisements. The program then flows to a block 506 todetermine if the query has been initiated, which will occur at a definedtime within the overall program schedule. The program then flows to ablock 508 in order to set a window counter to a null value. As describedhereinabove, each query requires a response to be returned within adefined time window. This actually gives context and meaning to aresponse. Otherwise, a simple key interface with a defined set ofsymbols, letters, or numbers would not be possible. In this matter, theletter A can be used multiple times for multiple queries and have adifferent meaning associated there with any statistical analysis of theoverall data structure.

The program then flows to a function block 510 after it has beeninitiated and sent to a null value to run the visual cue. This way theysee some type of advertisement with some type of enticing responserequired. The program will then flows to a function block 512 in orderto process all of the responses received within the window, each of theresponses having a timestamp associated therewith such that onlyresponses received with a timestamp within the query window will belogged. The program then flows to a decision block 514 to determine ifthe counter is a maximum value, i.e., the end of the query time window.If not, the program flows along the “N” path to a block 516 in order toincrement the counter and then back to the input of the block 510. Thiswill occur until the counter has reached its maximum value, at whichtime flowchart will back around to the input of the block 504 to selectthe next query.

Referring now to FIGS. 6A-6C, there are illustrated three differentdiagrammatic views of how the presence of an individual 202 isrecognized at one of the gates 104 or 106. In the embodiment of FIG. 6A,the individual 202 has the ticket 112 associated therewith, and, uponreaching gate, the individual 202 is prompted by some type of signage orthe such to activate their application. Upon activating theirapplication, the individual 202 can be presented with a screen to selecta particular response which, when transmitted to the wireless device 116with the created UID of the MU 110 and information regarding theselected response. As will be described hereinbelow, that is defined asa Response ID (RID). The second embodiment associated with FIG. 6B, theindividual 202 is recognized by a beacon 602 which generates a signalthat can be scanned by a separate receiver on the MU 110. Thesetypically operate under IEEE 802.15.XX protocol, and they typically havesome type of unique ID associated therewith and, in some instances,especially with the beacon, a command structure that allows more thanjust an ID to be sent. These can be a Bluetooth system or a BLE systemor a Zigbee system or other similar systems. The point is that theapplication running on the MU 110 can recognize this ID and, uponrecognizing this ID, can launch the full program and display the screento the individual 202. The individual 202 then enters the ticket numberand the MU 110 then creates the UID and generates a response, i.e., itanswers a question which is an initial question, and then transmits thisto the wireless device 116 for transmission to the local CO 120 forregistration.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6C, there is illustrated an embodiment whereinthe individual answers the initial question via some type of visual cuethat is presented at the gate. This is a special visual cue that may bepermanent. The user must answer this question in order to be registered.The screen of the user may actually display a simple display indicatingto the user that they must view this visual cue at the gate and enter itin order to be eligible for a prize. This will prompt the individual 202to input information from the ticket in additional to answering theresponse. Again, what is required to register the particular device withthe local CO 120 is to generate UID from the ticket and then answer aquestion and provide one of one or more available responses to thatquestion and forwarded the UID and RID to the local CO 120.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoverall detection of the presence of an individual at a gate, which isinitiated at a block 702 and then proceeds to a decision block 704. Thisdecision block 704 determines if it has detected the presence of a newdevice entering the venue 102 and, if so, the program proceeds to afunction block 706 to register that user in the database as an instance,i.e., it creates a new record for that individual device which,thereafter, when it receives the UID from that device in associated witha response, it can recognize that a particular device has responded.This is important in that, for example, an individual might respond withmultiple identical responses to a given query. What is necessary fromthe messenger's point of view is to know the number of separate devices,i.e., separate UIDs, that responded to a particular query. Thus, everyone of the UIDs generating the responses to a particular query with aparticular timestamp such that they are associated with that particularquery will be logged, such that the messenger can now have a very clearand instant feedback as to the number of individuals actually payingattention to their particular advertisement. For example, if there were10,000 attendees at an event and 5,000 responded to a particular query,this would indicate to the messenger that their advertisement actuallywas viewed by 5,000 attendees. Without this system, it is nothing butspeculation as to how many of the attendees are actually viewing theadvertisement.

The program then proceeds to a function block 708 after registration inthe database to basic register a payment, as will be describedhereinbelow, to indicate that a new UID has been added to the system.The program then proceeds to the “Done” block 710.

Referring now to FIG. 7A, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoverall revenue model, which is initiated at a block 712 and thenproceeds to a block 714 to determine if the new UID has been created. Itshould be understood that it is possible for an individual 202 to inputthe wrong seat number and, as such, duplicating another seat number thatis already been entered into the system. If the UID is associated onlywith the seat number, there could be a possibility of a duplicate. If itis a new UID, the program proceeds to a function block 716 to determineif there is a duplicate in the database due to the input of a wrong seatnumber or such. This is the local database or the verification database.Program then proceeds to a decision block 718 to determine if it isunique and, if not, it rejects and, if so, it proceeds to a functionblock 720 to increment a payment counter. This payment counterinformation is stored in the verification database with a timestamp forthe particular increment, as indicated by a block 722, and then theprogram flows to a block 724 in order to accrue the value and into ablock 726 in order to transfer value.

Referring now to FIG. 8, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation at the MU 110, which is initiated at a block 802 and proceedsto a decision block 804 in order to determine if the application on theMU 110 has been initiated. If so, the program flows to a block 806 topresent the ticket input screen to the individual 202. The program thenflows to a decision block 808 to determine if the ticket information hasbeen input. As noted hereinabove, that input is basically the section,row, and seat information that is typically on the ticket. However, anyinformation that is unique to the ticket can be provided as inputinformation. One advantage, however, of having the actual “physical”location of an individual is in a situation where in a prize isdelivered to that individual as a result of some response. It may bethat query is to require the individual to continually “tap” theirresponse key at a rapid rate and for a long duration of time and theindividuals that exceed a particular threshold will be awarded, forexample, a T-shirt. This can then be delivered to their seat.

After the information on the ticket has been acknowledged as having beeninput, the program flows to a block 810 in order to create the unique ID(UID) on the device itself. This UID, as described hereinabove, isbasically the information regarding the section, row and seatinformation associated with the ticket, in one example. This is createdon the device and stored on the device as a local value. The programthen flows to a decision block 812 in order to determine if the nextstep, the requirement that a response be provided, is to be provided bya visual cue. The visual cue could be a sign at the gate that indicatesto the individual that they are to initiate their application on theirdevice and then depress “1” for an indication of the Male gender and,for indication of the Female gender, depress “2” when the display of thepotential or available response buttons is displayed to the individual.Of course, the display will only be displayed after the operation isinitiated. This is the process that is associated with the “Y” pathwhich flows to a function block 814 to generate external visual cue,either in real time or as a fixed display, and then the program flows tothe function block 816 to present the screen or display with the variouschoices on the user's device. If, alternatively, no visual cue isprovided externally, the user is presented on their device with a screenthat provides a choice with a query, such as “select your gender” withonly two choices provided, “1” for the gender Male and “2” for thegender Female, as indicated by block 818. Once user has selected one ofthese two, then the application will shift into the full response modeand a full-screen of all available responses will be displayed, as willbe described hereinbelow.

The program then proceeds to a decision block 822 to determine if theselection has occurred, and, if so, the program proceeds to a functionblock 822 in order to send the created UID and that the response code(RID) along with a timestamp to the server and in the program proceedsto Done block 824.

Referring now to FIG. 9, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoverall operation of the user entering the venue and the overalloperation. The program is initiated at a block 902 and then proceeds toa block 904 wherein the user enters the venue. Once the user enters avenue, the user then initiates the application, as indicated by block906, which, as described hereinabove, can be initiated by the user, orsome external device such as a scanner or gate beacon or the such can beutilized to automatically activate the application upon passing a gate.When the application is initiated, it will access the network anddetermine the SSID or some similar identification information associatedwith the network from the network, as indicated by block 908. Theapplication will present to the user a prompt for ticket information, asindicated by block 910. The program then flows to block 912 wherein theuser will key in the ticket information. However, alternatively, therecould be provided the ability of the user's device to actually scan theticket with the camera which will allow the camera to extract uniqueinformation there from. The unique information could be, in the onedisclosed embodiment, the section, row, and seat information associatedwith the ticket or could be some unique code on the ticket. As long asthis information is unique as to all other individuals bearing a ticket,this will facilitate the operation of the overall disclosed embodiments.Once the ticket information has been input, this allows the unique UIDto be created with that information. The program then flows to adecision block 914 in order to determine if there is a visual cue. Ifthere is a visual cue, the application will present the user with choicein block 916 providing choice buttons associated with a particularvisual cue that are necessary in order to respond to the visual cue. Ifno visual cue is presented externally, the program will flow to a block918 to present the user with a screen having both a query and the choicebuttons associated there with. Once the choice has been made, asindicated by a block 920, the program flows to a function block to 922in order to create the UID with a timestamp and then sends the UID andthe timestamp in association with the RID to the server, as indicated byblock 924. It should be noted that each available choice will have somecode associated there with. As will be noted here below, there are alimited number of available choice buttons that will be provided touser. These will typically be limited to 40. Thus, a five-bit code isall that is required in order to support this number of availablechoices. Thus, the RID will be a code from 1-40 in binary form. This isa relatively small amount of information to be provided in atransmission. The program will flow to a “Done” block 926.

Referring now to FIGS. 10A and 10B, there are illustrated flowchartsdepicting the operation of presence recognition operation fordetermining when a device, an MU 110, is passing through a gate.Referring specifically to FIG. 10A, the program is initiated at a block1002 and then proceeds to a block 1004 to run the application in thebackground. In this mode, the full application is not running but,rather, a background application that performs a “sniffing” operationfor known signals on one of the multiple radios that may exist withinthe device. For example, some devices will have a cellular transceiverinterfacing with the cell network, and 802.15.4 radio for interfacingwith Wi-Fi, a Bluetooth transmitter and maybe a Zigbee transmitter.Additionally, a thread transmitter may also be provided for interfacingwith these types of devices. This background application merely looksfor the presence of one of these transmitting devices external to thedevice in order to read its identifying information. This is unique tothat device and can be, through a lookup table locally on the device,utilized to take some action such as launching the full application.

The program proceeds to a function block 1006 in order to scan for, inthis example, a beacon. A beacon is typically at a transmitting devicethat not only has a unique ID but also transmits data along with itstransmission. This is a one-way transmission and does not require anytype of handshake in order to receive the information. Sometechnologies, such as Bluetooth, do require “hearing” in order toreceive information from the transmitting device. The program thenproceeds to a decision block 1008 in order to determine if any beaconinformation has been received. If so, the program flows to a decisionblock 1010 to determine if any information received from the beacon,such as a command, is a valid command which can be operated on by thebackground program or application. If not, the program flows back to theinput of function block 1006. If the command is valid, the program flowsto a function block 1011 in order to launch the full application andthen to a “Done” block 1012.

Referring now to FIG. 10B, there is illustrated a flowchart depictingthe use of a BLE transmitter. The BLE transmitter is a device that cannot only send a unique identifier but also transmit information withoutrequiring “pairing.” Program is initiated at a block 1014 and thenproceeds to a block 1016 in order to run a background application forthe sniffing operation. The program then flows to a function block 1018in order to scan for BLE codes, i.e., the unique identifier. The programflows to a decision block 1020 to determine if such has been receivedand, if not, back to the input of function block 1018. Once received,the program flows to a function block 1022 in order to lookup the codelocally. If the code, stored in a local database, is valid, thisindicates, via a decision block 1024, that the code is a recognizablecode, i.e., one that is associated with the overall operation of thesystem. If so, the program flows to a function block 1026 in order tolaunch the full application and then to a “Done” block 1028.

With the automatic recognition of an external transmitter with a smalllocal transmission range disposed at an entrance gate, all that isrequired for an application to be launched is just a recognition of thepresence of a particular device within the transmission range of abeacon or similar type transmitting device. This, of course, onlyinitiates the application. There is still a requirement that theindividual viewing the screen, which is typically achieved by some typeof audible tone or prompt, is to provide some type of response. As notedhereinabove, that response may be a response to a query actually outputby the device, which indicates that at least the individual is lookingat their phone and interfacing with the application. It could be thatthe response is in response to viewing some type of visual cue local tothe gate. This visual cue could be a “fixed” visual cue or it could be atime varying visual cue. With a time varying visual cue, the timescalethat is provided on the response that is sent can be utilized to verifythat this response was activated at the gate as opposed to somewhereelse. Of course, that necessitates that, not only does the unique IDhave a timestamp associated with it at the time it was created, but alsothat the response to the visual cue be timestamped.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofthe initial screen display to the user of the MU 110. As describedabove, there is provided a ticket 112 that has associated therewithmultiple fields. There is provided with some type of unique barcode1102, information about the event 1104 and also the seat and rowinformation in a field of 1106. In the disclosed embodiment, thesection, row and seat information is what is input. The screen providedis represented by a reference numeral 1110 and displays a text prompt tothe user to enter the information regarding the section, the row and theseat in fields 1112, 1114 and 1116, respectively.

Once the user enters this and selects a “Confirm” field 1118, then thisinformation is utilized to create the unique ID as describedhereinabove. Then one of two events will happen. The first is that ascreen 1120 will be displayed that basically provides a query requestingthe selection of one of two choices, in this example, either a Male or aFemale gender. By selecting one of these two, a response can begenerated that actually provides information to the database as to thegender of the individual. Interestingly enough, as will be describedhereinbelow, this provides to the messengers information regarding thegender of each unique ID (UID) that is in the system. However, studiessuggest that a certain percentage of the individuals will make a mistakeon their entry for whatever reason in a certain number of individualswill actually put the wrong answer in. Thus, what will be indicated tothe messengers is that statistically this person is one gender or theother, but this is not a 100% indication.

The other aspect of it will be the presentation of a screen 1122 whichprompts the user to view some type of screen that is proximate to theentrance gate. The screen is utilized for the purpose of providing thefirst query which is required in order to actually create the entry intothe database of the UID for that particular device. There is presentedin this screen 1122 various response fields, in this example, 3 responsefields, 1124, 1126 and 1128. In this example, there would be provided aviewable screen that provides some type of query requiring the selectionof one of three selections as the response. These responses, in additionto allowing registration of the UID in the database, also provide somestatistical information about a person associated with that UID.

Referring now to FIG. 11B, there is illustrated a depiction of an actualscreen that is provided after registration of the UID for providingresponses to various queries. This screen is represented by referencenumeral 1130. This screen 1130 provides a fixed number of displayedresponse codes. There are provided a first column 1132 of outputalphabetical characters, the first 10 characters of the alphabet from Athrough J. There is provided a second column 1134 for the first tennumerical characters from 1 through 10. There is provided in a thirdcolumn 1136 the first 10 the primary colors, each color represented in acircular button. There are provided in a fourth column 1138 ten basicshapes such as a square, a circle, a triangle, etc. Thus, there areprovided 40 fixed characters that will always be provided on the screen.None of these characters is dedicated to any particular response to anyparticular character. When building a query, designer of that queryactually maps a particular response key to the database and thedefinition of a desired response, as will be described hereinbelow. Allthat is necessary is to provide a simple code for each one of thesebuttons. Thus, only a five-bit code is required to provide the code foreach of the buttons. For example, it may be that the first query has tworesponses that are presented, “A” and “B.” In the database, it may bethat this particular query determines that the people answering thequery with a “A” response have a likelihood of being 60% Male and thepeople answering the query with a “B” response have a likelihood ofbeing 60% Female. First, the fact that they answered with eitherresponse indicates that there looking at the screen and this isimportant information to have. A further refinement of the response canbe provided by mapping a particular response to certain statisticalrecords. This will be described in more detail herein below.

There are also provided three response buttons 1140, 1142 and 1144,respectively, that are not responses that can be mapped into thedatabase outside of the MU 110. These buttons 1140-1144 are provided foranother function, and the function is to allow interface with theinternal application in response to a visual cue, which will bedescribed hereinbelow.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation of running a query at a top level. This program is initiatedat a block 1202 and proceeds to a block 1204 in order to run the audioor visual prompt. The program flows to a function block 1206 in order toset the time window within which a response is to be received for thatparticular query. The program then flows to a decision block 1208 todetermine if any responses have been received and, if so, then to afunction block 1210 in order to populate the database with a response,which just indicates that this particular MU 110 via its UID is actuallyassociated with a person looking at the prompt. The program then flowsto a decision block 1212 to determine if the time window has closed forreceiving responses. If not, the program will continue to loop back tothe input of the decision block 1208 until the time window is closed forthat particular query, at which time the operation is terminated at a“Done” block 1214.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofthe various data structures generated by the MU 110 during registrationand operation. In a first data structure 1302, there is illustrated thevarious data fields for the UID. They are defined as a first field 1304associated with the section, a second field 1306 associated with the rowand a third field 1308 associated with the seat. A fourth section 1310,an optional section, is associated with a timestamp that can be utilizedat the time of the creation of the UID to uniquely define it in theevent that somebody else actually this enters their seat number, forexample. This is not a timestamp that is used for identification of thetime at which the UID is transmitted but, rather, just additionalinformation to make the UID more unique. Of course, it could also beutilized for the purpose of determining the time in which the UID wascreated. This particular data structure requires very little databandwidth to transmit such, as the information contained in there isminimal.

For the second data structure, a data structure 1314 is provided for thebutton code for the response, which, as noted above, is the response ID(RID). This is a five bit code. The actual response that is sent isillustrated by a data structure 1316, which is comprised of a first datafield 1318 having associated therewith the UID, a second data field 1320associated with the RID, a third data field 1322 associated with atimestamp, TS. This field 1322 is actually the timestamp that isgenerated when the response is actually created as compared to thetimestamp infield 1310 that further defines the UID as unique. Overall,this response data structure 1316 is all that is required to betransmitted in response to seeing a visual cue. There is no two-waycommunication that is required between the server and the MU 110, thusreducing the overhead load on the network traffic. Thus, for example, ifthe response data structure 1316 required three bytes of data, 10,000participants viewing a visual cue and responding thereto would onlytransmit 30 Kbytes data within the window. If that window defined by thequery was open for just one second, there would be required a minimumbandwidth of 30 Kbytes/sec, which is well below the lowest bandwidthWi-Fi connection to any network. Thus, if one of the responses was tosee how many times any individual associated with a UID could “tap” aparticular response button, it would still be difficult, with the humanresponse time, to exceed any practical bandwidth limit in a network. Itis a minimization of overhead and the production of the actual data thatis required to provide information to an messenger. Again, what isprovided by the response button is both an indication of “eyes on thescreen” and also some back end statistical data.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is illustrated a flowchart for theserver receiving the response, which is initiated at a block 1402 andproceeds to decision block 1404 in order to determine if a response hasbeen received. When received, the program flows to a function block 1406in order to resolve the particular response. What has been received atthis point is a response having a UID, and an RID and a timestamp. Whatis resolved is, knowing the time window, the presence of a unique codewhich is a combination of the RID and QID (query ID), is indicated byfunction block 1408. This combination, as will be described hereinbelow,is a unique ID that can be utilized for back end statistical analysis.The UID is also resolved and is utilized to indicate that a particularUID has responded (noting that any time that response is referred to asbeing responded by UID, this also means that it is being responded by MU110). If the query, for example, just wanted to know how manyindividuals are looking at the screen in response to a particular query,any response received, whether it be multiple responses or a singleresponse, during the time window associated with the query will providean indication, for for all received UIDs, of the number of individualsthat paid attention to the query, and all that is required to resolvethis particular query into any useful information is the UID. By lookingat the combination of the unique RID plus QID, further information canbe determined to resolution associated with other tables mapped to thisparticular query and response. The program will then flow to a functionblock 1410 in order to update various tables and into and “End” block1412.

Referring now to FIGS. 15-18, there are illustrated diagrammatic viewsof how the tables are generated for various combinations of RIDs for aparticular query ID (QID). For example, for a given query, there may bethree responses provided, R(1), R(2) and R(3). It may be that the querypresented to the individual is the choice of responses “A,” “B,” and“C.” These particular response codes will be mapped to some type ofinformation associated with that response. For that response, i.e., forthe first response in association with a particular QID, QID+R (1), thiscombination being a unique ID that defines a unique object or tablewithin the database for this combination. Thus, within this particulartable associated with that unique ID, the particular UIDs that respondedas such can be contained therein and each of these UIDs will providepointer back to the actual UID record associated with that UID. FIG. 15illustrates these particular tables.

In FIG. 16, there is illustrated a further refinement of theinformation. As will be described hereinbelow, queries can be providedwith information associated with classifications. For example, there maybe a classification of “gender.” This would have the sub classification,at its highest level, of male or female. Classification would have aclassification ID of CID and the sub classification would have a uniqueID of SCID. For example, take the example of gender. This can be soclassified into possibly ten different analytical “bins.” The systemcould be designed such that a prior knowledge of a particular generatedquery could be resolved into ten different percentage classifications,one wherein the gender is classified as follows:

10% F/90% M

20% F/80% M

30% F/70% M

40% F/60% M

50% F/50% M

60% F/40% M

70% F/30% M

80% F/20% M

90% F/10% M

Thus, a particular response can actually be mapped to one of thesestatistical bins. This would thus require that the designer of the queryunderstand that when a particular individual responds with theparticular response, this will indicate to the database that, forexample, 80% of the respondents are female. Each of these particular subclassifications can be mapped all the way back to the UID and theQID+RID unique code. This is illustrated in FIG. 17. The actual CID isillustrated in FIG. 18, indicating that there can be one CID for gender,one for political affiliations, one for ethnicity, etc. By utilizingprior information known to the designer of the query, each response canbe mapped to multiple different classifications and sub classifications,such that just the response provided by any MU 110 can be resolved intoinformation regarding the particular individual that responded to such.Certain information can be determined as to their gender, as to thepolitical affiliation or as to their ethnicity and other suchinformation.

Referring now to FIG. 19, there is illustrated an additionaldiagrammatic view of how the mapping occurs. The additional responsedata structure 1316 is resolved such that the UID will define a UID datarecord or object that is to be updated with the various informationprovided by the analysis and the mapping of the responses. The resolvingtechnique defines, with the response and the query in which the responsewas received, the unique ID for the QID+RID denoted in a table or objectassociated therewith. This is a table 1902, which is updated with theparticular UID that responded with that particular response code. ThisQID+RID unique code is mapped to a CID table 1904 to place a pointer tothe UID therein. This also points to an SCID table 1906 such that theUID can be placed therein. There's additionally a QID table 1908 thathas the particular UID associated with this response placed therein.Thus, by looking at any one of the tables associated with the UID table,all of the UIDs that were associated with a particular response for theQID will have a reflection of the number of UIDs that responded as such.If, for example, one wanted to know how many UIDs responded to just thegender question where either response indicates some information aboutgender, one need only look at the CID table 1904 associated with thatparticular response, i.e., the one to which the QID+RID unique code wasmapped to. If one wanted to look at how many respondents replied to theparticular query, all that is required is to look at the QID table 1908and this will give a total of all of the UIDs that responded to thequery. There is knowledge, of course, as to how many total UIDs are inthe system or are present at the event. If, for example, at halftime ofa basketball game, any query was presented to the attendees and aresponse resulted in a 40% response, this would indicate to themessengers that 40% of the attendees were viewing the screen. Someinformation can be gleaned from this information. However, this providesan actual real time indication to the messengers of the fact that theywere able to have 40% of the attendees with “eyes on the screen.”

Partly referring now to FIG. 20, there is illustrated a more detaileddiagrammatic view of the mapping operation. It can be seen that, foreach UID in table 1910 that each UID has associated therewith a QID, anSCID, a CID and a QID+RID. There is shown the mapping to the table 1902which shows multiple UIDs mapped thereto. There are illustrated two UIDtables flanking 1910 Thereto. These tables also mapped to a secondQID+RID table 1902.

Referring now to FIG. 21, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of anoverall template for creating a query. This template provides theability to map any particular classification and sub classification withany response. For example, illustrated in the template are fourclassifications, gender, nationality, ethnicity and political bias. Eachof these may be selected as somehow associated with a particular query.The designer of the query will then be provided with the ability ofproviding any number of response buttons in their queries. Each of theseresponse buttons just needs to be mapped to a particular subclassification ID, SCID, in order to give it meaning. Thus, the genderhas a CID, to which the particular query is mapped for a particularquery. This will be CID gender ID. There may be, as noted hereinabove,nine sub classifications. Each of the response buttons can be mapped toone of the sub classifications. It is illustrated that the response R1ID is associated with the RID to the particular map button, for example,the “A” button. This will be mapped to the particular unique QID+RIDcode for that combination of the particular QID for the query beingdesigned and the RID associated with the “A” button. This will begenerated as a particular object in the system or record for that uniqueID. This would be mapped to a particular SCID. It is asserted to keep inmind that this particular SCID is a predefined SCID, such that it can beutilized to collect data from multiple queries. It is not associatedwith just this particular query only but the particular QID isassociated with query and the particular mapping of the RID to aparticular button for that query in the form of the unique ID, QID+RID.It is noted that the first RID, that associated with the R1 IDassociated with the “A” button will exist for each of the particularclassifications, i.e., for the nationality CID, the ethnicity CID andthe political bias CID. Thus, what will happen is that, upon providing aresponse via the “A” button for that particular query, this particularUID will be mapped into each of the SCIDs to which that response buttonis mapped. By looking at the QID table, the total number of UIDsresponding thereto will be known. By looking at an SCID table, all ofthe responses over all queries will be known. With respect to gender,for example, if there were nine different bins associated with ninedifferent SCIDs, a bell curve could be generated from all of the datathat is received for the multiple queries indicating the general gendermakeup of the crowd. This is all derived from just simple responsesreceived from multiple MUs 110 transmitting a minimal amount of dataresponses for a query to a server.

Referring back again to FIG. 11B, there are provided 40 fixed charactersthat will always be provided on the screen. All that is necessary is toprovide a simple code for each one of these buttons. Thus, only afive-bit code is required to provide the code for each of the buttons.For example, it may be that the first query has two responses that arepresented, “A” and “B.” In the database, it may be that this particularquery determines that the people answering the query with a “A” responsehave a likelihood of being 60% Male and the people answering the querywith a “B” response have a likelihood of being 60% Female. A furtherrefinement of the response can be provided by mapping a particularresponse to certain statistical records. Each of the responses may havestatistical information associated therewith. In this way, each responsemay have an SCID associated with that particular response in the giventime window. Again, the “A” response may have associated with it thegender SCID corresponding to a 0.6/0.4 Male/Female percentageclassification. This SCID association with the response may only lastfor the duration of a particular live event, and may only be relevant tothat live event. So, at a live event on a different date, any SCIDsassociated with the responses may be newly formed at that particularlive event and are thus unique to that particular live event. However,it will be understood that statistical information may be carried overfrom other live events if the desired statistical data warranted such.

It may also be that the statistical data associated with responses canbe shared across a series of concurrent live events. For instance, theSCID corresponding to a 0.6/0.4 Male/Female percentage classification inassociation with the “A” response may be shared across four differentlive events taking place on the same night and around the same time. Inthis embodiment, it may be that the four events all ask a particularquestion at the same time based on a pre-defined time window for thequestion. This question asked at all four of the events may also havethe “A” response as having the same SCID associated with it so that thedifferent audiences can be evaluated using the same statisticalassociations. This may be useful when polling audiences at differenttypes of events. If an “A” response is expected to be answered 60% bymales, it can be measured against differing audiences in order todetermine if that assumption holds true, taking some variation intoaccount. For instance, if the question is asked at a sporting event and58% of the responses are from males, but when asked at a concert the “A”response is chosen by a population of only 35% males, this providesuseful information for particular types of venues.

The visual cue 108 may provide for any arrangement of any of the 40characters. In some embodiments, the characters used might be in alogical order (“1-2-3”, “A-B-C”, etc.), or they might be arranged in arandom, or seemingly random, order. In some embodiments, the responsesdisplayed on the visual cue 108 may only be used once at a particularlive event. For instance, at a live event, if the particular questionsasked have used all characters from 1-10 and A-J, it may start usingcolor or symbols exclusively, as 1-10 and A-J have already been usedearlier in the event. This allows for certain statistical data to beassociated only with particular response characters. However, in otherembodiments, a particular question may require certain characters forthat question, and thus those characters would always appear with thatquestion.

As provided herein, the 40 fixed characters on the mobile unit screenallows for users of the mobile unit to simply press or tap theparticular character that is associated with their desired response.Doing so will cause the response to be transmitted to the local centraloffice 120, along with the timestamp and other information to betransmitted. This thus allows for a one-click user experience. In someembodiments, from the user's perspective, users will only see thecharacters presented. No text or other information pertaining to thequery being displayed on the display cue 108 would be displayed on themobile units. Thus, each of the mobile units acts as a response systemonly, encompassing only that aspect of the system. The mobile unitresponse system would not perform any other function besides accepting auser's response and transmitting that response to the local centraloffice 120.

Referring now to FIG. 22, there is illustrated a flowchart of oneembodiment of a process for tracking attendee participation at a liveevent 2200. The process begins at step 2202 when an attendee or userpasses through the gate or launches the application on the attendee'smobile unit. The application may be a standalone application, or part ofanother application's functionality. If part of another application'sfunctionality, such as an official Major League Baseball app, there maybe an extra section or tab of the application that the attendee mayselect to begin using the functionality provided for by the presentinvention. At step 2204, the attendee follows steps to perform theinitial setup and ID creation process as provided herein. This may occurwhen a user answers an initial query, in addition to providing theuser's seat number. This provides for an indication that the attendee isready and willing to participate in the polling, games, or otheractivities provided at the venue 102.

At step 2206, upon completion of the initial setup and ID creationprocess at step 2204, the participation of the attendee is logged. Tokeep track of the number of attendee's that have chosen to participate,a digital counter may be incremented as well to indicate that anotherattendee has used the application to participate. In some embodiments, alog might not be kept and only a digital counter used, or in otherembodiments only a log would be kept, as desired by the partiesinvolved. The log and/or counter may be saved either permanently or onlyinitially by the local central office 120, and the data would be latertransferred to the central remote office 126. This provides a uniqueadvantage over more traditional polling, statistics, or advertisingsystems because the present invention allows for a verified viewer. Intraditional methods, such as an ad banner or ad video at a live event,for example, it is unknown how many people paid attention to the ad. Thepresent invention allows for an exact number of verified viewers orparticipators to be tracked.

Upon completion of the initial setup and ID creation process and step2206, at step 2208, a service provider is paid a flat fee for the use ofthe service. The service provider may be the owner of the central remoteoffice 126, the developer of the application, either developing thestandalone app or developing the functionality for the official partnerapp, or any combination thereof. The service provider would receive theflat fee as compensation for providing the services described herein tothe venue 102. The flat fee may be for any value. In some embodiments,the fee may be a low value, such as $5.00, which may be low enough toattract live event venue customers or live entertainment organizationsto use the service, while allowing for the revenue stream for theservice provider to be substantial if there is high attendeeparticipation. The flat fee would be charged to the live event venue orlive entertainment organization for each attendee at a live event thatcompletes step 2204. Preferably, the flat fee would only be paid onceper live event per attendee that completes step 2204. This means thatthe fee would not be paid again when an attendee who has alreadycompleted step 2204 participates again during the same live event byanswering other polls, participates in games, or other activities.However, other embodiments may allow for a fee to be charged each timean attendee participates at a live event. For example, if 20 pollingquestions are asked at a live event, the flat fee would be charged forthe same attendee 20 times if that attendee participates in everyquestion.

Referring now to FIG. 23, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of anoperation of the current system for facilitating the purchase ofmerchandise from outside vendors outside of the overallpolling/statistical collection system disclosed hereinabove. As notedhereinabove, the Mobile Unit 110 can be any type of device forfacilitating communication with the hotspot 116 or wireless interface116. However, in most cases, the MU 110 is a smart phone that isregistered with a provider that provides a data plan for that particulardevice. This utilizes a separate radio on a separate antenna 2302 forinterfacing with a cell tower 2304 or any other type of data interface.This cell tower is interfaced with a service provider 2306, with whichthe individual 202 and the device 110 is a registered. Thus, the serviceprovider 2306 will have, due to the fact that the MU 110 is registeredwith the service provider 2306, information regarding payment optionsuch as credit card and address information with respect to the actualindividual 202, in addition to other information about the individual202. As noted hereinabove, the local CO 120 has no information regardingthe MU 110 other than what is provided via inputting the ticketinformation and running the application. No information is provided withrespect to unique information about the particular MU 110 and none isnecessary.

In this particular embodiment, the screen 108 displays information tothe individual 202 which, for polling operation, elicits some type ofresponse from the individual 202 via the MU 110. In this embodiment,however, what is displayed to the individual 202 for viewing is an offerfor merchandise from an outside vendor, the definition of outside vendormeaning a vendor or a party that is outside of current system, i.e., itis not associated with the local CO 120. The vendor could be a merchantthat sold goods online or actually be a merchant that was within theconfines of the local event within the venue 102. The user is promptedto use one of selection buttons 1140-1144, of which selection buttons1140 is illustrated in FIG. 23 on the device screen of MU 110. Theadvertisement might state “the following goods offered for sale at asignificant discount of X %-want to take advantage of this offer, pleaseselect S1 within the next 10 minutes on your FEVR application.” The useror individual 202 would then have 10 minutes, in this example, withinwhich to make the selection. The selection merely requires them to pressthe button 1140. What would that happen is that a second screen 2308would be presented on the MU 110 to the individual 202 to complete thetransaction external of the local CO 120 and any collection of data orstatistics. Everything after this point is unknown to the local CO 120and whoever controls such.

With this offer screen 2308, the data link is routed through to theservice provider and then to the Internet 2310 to provide a link to avendor 2312. However, the entire offer could be facilitated internal tothe MU 110. The primary issue is that information is required to beinput to the offer screen 2308 in order to provide information, ifneeded. It could be that only a single items is being offered with norequirement to input a size or color, etc. In this case, all that isnecessary is to push the button 1140 and the transaction is completedwith the vendor 2312. However, if additional information is required,the offer screen 2208 allows the individual 202 to interface with thevendor 2312 in order to provide such information. What then occurs isthat service provider interfaces with the vendor 2312 in accordance witha prearranged transactional agreement to actually bill the individual202 through their contractual relationship. This can be facilitated dueto the fact that the service provider 2306 has all the informationnecessary to just provide this payment on the individual's monthlystatement.

Although the local CO 120 could provide this query/advertisement/offerfrom the local database, it also could be retrieved from a contentprovider 2316 via the Internet 2310 when needed. This allows the contentprovider 2316, in one example, to actually live stream theadvertisement. The main point is that the advertisement is, 1) presentedto the individual 202 with predetermined selection button associatedthere with and, 2) that a time window is provided.

Referring now to FIG. 24, there is illustrated by diagrammatic view ofthe overall system flow for facilitating the presentation of the offerand the completion of the transaction, including the billing. A block2402 represents the generation of the offer which is sent to the display108 with a selection field 2404 displayed that their one. The MU 110displays the advertising addition to the selection buttons 1140, in thisexample, which is then, in accordance with the above noted description,sent to provider 2306. All that is really necessary to send to theprovider is, at the minimum, the selection button in addition to sometype of location information. With this information, it is possible toallow the service provider or even the vendor to determine whichpromotional advertisement is associated with and also with you venue 102it is associated with. To facilitate this, some kind of locationinformation is provided via a block 2408. Since there is no two-waycommunication with the local CO 120, the information that the MU 110 hasis GPS information, SSID information of the wireless hotspots, and aticket number. The ticket number, if it is in the form of a seat number,section number, and room number, may not be unique to any particularsystem, as multiple venues might share the same seat number. However, itmay be that there is a unique ticket number that is unique across allvenues, and this may actually define the location. If not, then GPSinformation could be provided to define the location of the MU 110 atthe time of the generated response. This provides the actual physicallocation of the MU 110, and this just needs to be correlated with aknown physical location of a particular venue. Thus, this promotionaladvertisement or offer might be displayed at multiple venues throughoutthe country. For example, on any given weekend, there may be multiplefootball games sponsored by the NFL®, and the promotional offer oradvertisement, since it may only be presented during timeouts, halftimeevents, etc., would not be synchronized across multiple games andmultiple channels. In this event, the vendor would have to know thephysical location of the event in order to determine which venue thiswas associated with in order to verify information. Additionally, aparticular vendor or program operating outside of the local CO 120 wouldhave to be aware of the time in which it was presented. Thus, the localCO 120 would have to inform the vendor of the time in which thepromotional advertisement was actually displayed, and this could becoordinated with the generation of this response via the button 1140.

Thus, the service provider 2306 would receive both the informationrecording the response that was sent, i.e., an indication that thebutton S1 was pressed, the location information, and also the timeinformation in the form of a timestamp. This information is then routedto the vendor 2312. The vendor 2312 has a contractual relationship withthe service provider 2306 in order to allow the service provider 2206 tobill the individual 202 through the contractual relationship it hastherewith. This is represented by a block 2420.

Referring now to FIG. 25, there is illustrated a flowchart for theoverall operation of the merchandising feature area. This is initiatedat a block 2502 and then proceeds to a block 2504 or in order togenerate the offer. This requires the definition of a time window, asindicated by block 2506. This is then displayed, as indicated by a block2508, with the appropriate response button that must be selected inorder to take advantage of this particular promotional offer. Theprogram then flows to block 2510 wherein the individual 202 views theoffer, and a selection is made, as indicated by block 2512. At thispoint, a button ID with a timestamp is created, this button ID not beingfor the purpose of the polling or statistical operation of the local CO120. It is merely provided in order to encode within the button ID theinformation about the button unique to the application, i.e., in thiscase it would encode the underlying code for the button 1140. This isthen combined with a timestamp and sent via the overriding offerapplication, which is associated with the screen 2308, to the provider2306 in order to interface with the vendor 2312 or to just send theinformation to vendor 2312. This is indicated at a block 2514. Theprogram then flows to block 2516, wherein this is sent via the MU 110 tothe carrier and then to the 2312. At this time, a determination must bemade as to whether a timestamp associated there with, in addition tolocation information, indicates that the selection was made within thetime window, this indicated by decision block 2518. If not, this isrejected. If so, then the overall order is processed, as indicated by afunction block 2520. This process includes verifying payment and thensending order/payment to the vendor, as indicated by block 2522. Thevendor will then deliver the product as indicated by block 2524, and thecustomer is billed by the provider, as indicated by block 2526. Theprogram then proceeds to a Done block 2528.

Referring now to FIG. 26, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoperation of ensuring that only a single UID is associated with a singleseat. The reason for this is that, from an integrity standpoint, anadvertiser wants to have statistics that cannot be manipulated. Oneissue might be that another entity could manipulate the statistics byentering other UIDs into the system due to the fact that the timestampmakes it more unique. By requiring each UID to have a unique seatnumber, the situation wherein a second application has the wrong seatnumber entered therein will result in a rejection. Even if first UIDassigned to that seat number is incorrect, UID will be rejected when theindividual 202 with the correct ticket numbers tries to enter in theirseat number. Since it had already been incorrectly entered and a UIDregistered with that seat number, the new one will be rejected. Thiswill be an error, but it will be tolerated. The important thing is thatan advertiser or somebody interested in statistics about the crowd canbe ensured that, for a venue having associated therewith 10,000 tickets,there will be no more than 10,000 UIDs generated. Even if only 8000attendees registered their UIDs, the advertiser can be assured thatthese are in fact associated with the “eyes” that they desire to bedirected at their particular advertisements, etc.

The program is initiated at a block 2602 and then proceeds to decisionblock 2604 to determine if there is a new presence, i.e., a new MU 110is entered at the event boundaries, and a ticket has been utilized inorder to enter the unique information from the ticket and create theUID. UID is sent to the system, the local CO 120 and compared to thealready existing UIDs, as indicated by block 2606. The program thenflows to a decision block 2608 to determine if this newly received UIDis unique to the system. If not, this indicates that it is a duplicatefor some reason, and it is rejected. If so, the program flows to afunction block 2610 New Record, as described hereinabove and then to ablock 2612 in order to register payment, as described hereinabove.

FIG. 27 illustrates a flowchart depicting the overall operation ofcollecting statistics via all of the responses received in thecrowd-based response system, which is initiated at a block 2702. Theprogram then flows to a function block 2704 in order to generate thequery. As noted hereinabove, the query is actually designed such that ithas embedded therein statistical information that can be derived from aparticular response. For example, press “1” for female and “2” for male.This particular key, i.e., that for the “1,” is for that query duringthat time and is statistically related to the gender female. Of course,studies of individuals responding to that question may indicate that the80% will actually be female. Thus, a statistical certainty of 80% can beassociated with that particular “1” button for that particular queryduring that particular time window. That will accordingly be mapped toan SCID for that particular statistical certainty of female. It may beat another query was designed such that the button “C” was mapped tothat SCID and, for that query in that time window, the button “C” isassociated with the statistical certainty of 80% female. Aftergeneration of the query, the various UIDs responding thereto, asindicated by a block 2705, will be collected and the various datarecords updated. As noted hereinabove, a particular response can beassociated with multiple SCIDs for a given button.

After all of the UIDs are collected and mapped to QIDs, CIDs, and SCIDs,the program flows to a decision block 2708 in order to determine ifanother query is in the queue. If so, the program backs around to theinput of the block 2708, and, if not, the program flows to a block 2710indicating that this is a last query.

Referring now to FIG. 28, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofhow a query is mapped to a QID, for example. When the query is output,as noted hereinabove, a time window is defined which is uniquelyassociated with that query. The response is resolved down to the UID,the timestamp and the RID. In the QID, all of the UIDs responding willbe collected. Thus, all that is necessary is to look at the QID, whichis unique as to a time window. For example, if there were two queriesthat were basically identical, and they were generated at differenttimes, they would actually have a different QID, as each is unique withrespect to its time window. It may be that a particular individualassociated with an MU 110 presses the button more than once. This wouldprovide the same UID in the particular QID record more than once. Duringthe analysis, this can be discriminated. If it was desirable to see howmany unique UIDs responded to a particular query to see how manypeople's “eyes on the screen” there were, then all that would benecessary was to determine the number of unique UIDs that responded. If,on the other hand, it was desirable to see how many times a response wasprovided to a particular query, the QID for that query be analyzed forthe total responses including multiple responses from associated UID.This is illustrated in FIG. 23 in the form of two different queriesassociated with two different QIDs.

Referring now to FIG. 29, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of anexample of an analysis with respect to these queries that are presentedin each query. They can be seen from this graph that initially, thefirst query had a low number of responses and, as the event wore on,certain queries have higher level of responses as opposed to otherqueries. These are total responses to a particular given query. Thefirst bar chart illustrates the total number of responses for a givenquery. An additional analysis can accumulate the total number ofresponses by accumulating UIDs over the time of the event. Additionally,an analysis can be performed to determine the actual participating UIDs.It may be that certain MUs 110 participate in the response-basedoperation more than others. There could be, for example, 30,000attendees, of which 10,000 are registered with an associated UID. Byknowing the number of total registered MUs 110, a determination can bemade as to what percentage at any given time is actually participating,and also an analysis can be made as to the distribution of participationby the registered users. There may be a certain portion that responds toevery query, a certain portion that only responds to 50% of queries, acertain portion that responds only 25%, and a portion that neverresponds. This can be important information for an advertiser/promoter.Additionally, since the seat number is known from the UID itself, asthis is embedded information therein, it is possible for the system toactually map responses to certain areas of the live event. For example,suppose that the event were a baseball game. It is well-known that seatsbehind home plate are the most expensive seats, and the bleachers arethe least expensive seats. It may be that certain queries are respondedto more heavily by attendees in the bleacher seats as opposed to thosein the behind home plate seats. A statistical certainty may actually beplaced upon a particular seat with respect to income, for example. Thus,if it is determined that at certain times during the event that moreresponses are being received from UIDs associated with behind home plateseats, it is possible to actually tailor the queries during those timesfor those particular attendees. The analysis can be performed real-timeto actually change the subject matter of the queries that are presented.

Referring now to FIG. 30, there is illustrated a simplified diagram ofthe mapping of a query to an SCID. Each query, the QID and the CID, canbe mapped to a particular SCID. This is defined in the design of theparticular query. The SCID is associated with a statistical certaintysuch that any choice can be associated with any SCID. As notedhereinabove, a query is defined with anywhere from one to multiplechoices, each choice associated with a particular button. That buttonwill be associated with one or more SCIDs. These, again, arepredetermined statistical certainties that are defined in the context ofthe particular query. Illustrated are multiple queries. The first query,query 1, has two choices, a choice 3002 and a choice 3003, meaning thatthere are two buttons associated with that query to allow the user tomake two choices. It is noted that a choice may also require thepressing of multiple buttons and not just a single button. Thus, thecombination of buttons would constitute a choice. The first choice 3002is associated with an SCID 3006, an SCID 3008 and an SCID 3010. Each ofthese SIDs 3006-3010 have a different statistical certainty associatedwith a different classification or CID, such as gender, politicalaffiliation, ethnicity, etc. The second choice 3003 is associated withan SID 3012, this being a different statistical certainty for adifferent classification. There is provided a second query, query 2,that is illustrated as having a choice, a single choice, that will beassociated with the SCID 3006, the SCID 3010 and the SCID 3012. A lastquery, query (m), has three separate choices, one associated with SCID3006, one associated with SCID 3008, and one associated with SCID 3012.This association is, again, defined in the design and the generation ofthe query. By having some knowledge of the particular query in thecontext thereof, a designer of the query can determine statisticalrelationships between that question, the response elicited and thestatistical certainty from that response. Again, the example of justselecting one of two choices, one for female and one for male, will beeasy to design, as it will be provided an SCID for male and an SCID forfemale. If there were a query asking if you are an out-of-town visitor,that would be a statistical certainty for a nonresident. A query forinformation regarding “your country of origin” could provide fiveresponses via five separate choice buttons for Europe, Asia, SouthAmerica or Canada, and these four choices would provide a statisticalcertainty for four different SCIDs, each associated with one of thosechoices. In this query, for example, each button that is provided atthat time for that query has a defined statistical relationship as aresult of being associated with a particular SCID, that statisticalrelationship defined by the properties of that associated SCID.

Referring now to FIG. 31, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofone example of the design of a collection of statistical data. In thisexample, there are provided two CIDs 3102 and 3104, the CID 3102associated with gender, and the CID 3104 associated with politicalaffiliation. There are associated with the CID 3102 three differentSCIDs, one for a ratio of 20% female/80% male, one for 50% female/50%male, and one for a ratio 80% female and 20% female. The CID 3104 isassociated with three SCIDs, one for 20% Democrat/80% Republican, 50%Democrat/50% Republican, and 80% Democrat/20% Republican. The designercan define for a particular query which statistical relationship isapplicable and select the closest SCID that has embedded therein thestatistical certainty. Thereafter, for any given query, each query ornumber of queries can be associated with that particular SCID. Forexample, there is a group 3108 of QIDs that are associated with the SCIDhaving a ratio of 20% female/80% male. There is another group of QIDs3110 having in Association with the SCID for 80% Democrat and 20%Republican. It may be that certain QID in group 3108 are also QID ingroup 3110. Just the mere response to the QID and, of course, theparticular response button associated therewith, it being noted thatthere may only be a single response, will result in UID making thatresponse being populated into the record for a particular SCID. Whenanalyzing a particular SCID over multiple queries, a determination canbe made as to how many unique UIDs responded thereto or the total numberof responses. This of course must account for multiple taps and thesuch. This can be handled in the software response for any query suchthat not all responses from a single MU 110 are recorded-only a singlerecording of a response during a given time window will be recorded.

Referring now to FIG. 32, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofthe analysis of one group of SCID associated with the gender CID 3202.There are provided eight SCIDs associated with the gender CID 3202,ranging from 0.1/0.9 through 0.9/0.1 as a ratio of female/male. This isa binning process wherein UIDs responding thereto will be binned thereinfor all queries. Of course, each SCID is mapped to a particular QID suchthat any QID can be analyzed for the particular SCIDs that areassociated therewith. In the chart, it is illustrated that adistribution of binned UIDs are illustrated, it being noted that thereare more females than males in the overall responders. This graph doesnot show or illustrate the number of queries that were responded to;rather, it illustrates the binning operation of the actual responsesthat, through the design of the queries.

Referring now to FIG. 33, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting oneembodiment of a process for extrapolating from statistical data gatheredfrom mobile devices at a live event 3300. The process begins at step3302 where, during dead time at the live event, a polling question isdisplayed on a venue display screen. The displayed question may be on alarge variety of topics, such as consumer preferences and politicalquestions. For instance, a question may ask “what type of car do youdrive?”, with options listed for “compact car,” “full-size car,”“truck,” “SUV,” and “other.” The user would select their answer bypressing a button on the screen of the mobile device that corresponds tothe option presented on the venue display screen 108. On the other hand,a question such as “are you in favor of gun control?” with the options“yes,” “no,” and “undecided” presented. It will be appreciated thatstatistical data may also be gathered from activities other than pollingquestions.

Similarly, questions to assess merchantability may also be presented onthe venue display screen. Merchantability for the purposes of thepresent invention includes gauging whether consumers would buy orendorse a particular product. For example, a question may be presentedthat asks “would you buy Pepsi or Coke?” or “would you buy a Chevy?”.The question may be accompanied by other media, such as showing an adfor Pepsi following by an ad for Coca Cola, and then displaying thequestion. In another example, a live concert event may ask the audience,after the first two bands have played and while the headlining act issetting up, which of the first two opening bands the audience prefers,or for which of the two bands the audience would buy a record.Similarly, this may be done by playing music videos of bands unrelatedto those playing at the concert, followed by a question regardingwhether the audience would by an album for the bands, and for which one.In yet another example, a band at a concert may ask the audience tolisten to a few melody selections, which the band would play live forthe audience, and then present the audience with a question regardingwhich of the melodies most resonates with the audience. This wouldprovide useful data for the band or record label in determining whattypes of melodies the general audience is most attracted to, and thenbase future songs on that preference. It will be understood that theseare just a few examples, and the same concepts could be applied to alllive events and within all industries.

At step 3306, all answers from attendees who participated in step 3304is saved, either to the local central office 120 or the central remoteoffice 126. At step 3308, statistical conclusions are drawn byextrapolating from the answers received from the attendees. Theattendees are essentially serving as the sample for the statisticalanalysis. However, unlike most studies or focus groups, where you have asmall sample size and extrapolation is performed based on that smallsample, a live event such as a sports or music event can potentiallyhave tens of thousands of people, or even more. Thus, this provides formore accurate conclusions to be drawn. Further, the data is collectedfrom people who may already be interested in the subject-matter. Forinstance, an audience at a concert that is being asked for theirpreferences in music are exactly the type of people a record label wantsto hear from; the people who pay to attend concerts. Ordinary focusgroups often lack the core or target audience, and thus conclusionsdrawn from such data can lead to erroneous results. The results of thestatistical conclusion may be displayed at the live event forentertainment purposes wherein people can measure their response againstwhat the most popular response was, for example. The results may alsoonly be viewed or analyzed by interested parties.

This process also allows for statistical conclusions to be based on thetype of audience, or on a population generally, depending on the desireduse of the data. For example, data collected from a live baseball gamewhere the question “what type of car do you drive?” might be applied tobaseball fans. So, if a majority of fans selected “truck” as theiranswer, a conclusion could be drawn that baseball fans are more likelyto buy trucks than other types of vehicles. Similarly, if the samequestion is asked at an opera house, and a majority of the audienceselected “full-size car,” a conclusion could be drawn that opera fansare more likely to by full-size cars than other types of cars.

In addition, this process allows for attendees to measure themselvesagainst other attendees in some embodiments. After an attendee hasanswered a question, the results may be compiled and re-displayed forthe audience to view how their response measures against the audience asa whole. It will be appreciated that this has many applications. Forinstance, if a majority of the women in the audience answered a questiona particular way, while a majority of the men in the same audienceanswered a question in a different way, this may be compiled andre-displayed for the audience. This allows for the audience to see howgender affected the results, and can measure their answer against themajority opinions. This creates an interest in answering the question,as there may be a natural curiosity to see how one's answer measures upto the results. The same method could be applied to merchantabilityquestions, such as re-displaying the results of the question “would youbuy Pepsi or Coke?” so that an audience member can see how his or heranswer measures against the results. For instance, if someone chose theresponse option for “Coke,” and the results are re-displayed to showthat 90% of those who answered chose “Pepsi,” the person who chose“Coke” can see that they are in the minority.

This system may also be extended to questions that elicit more emotionalresponses. These types of questions would relate to how people feelabout a particular topic. For instance, the question might state “how doyou feel about the government?” or “how do you feel about theneighborhood you live in?” with appropriate responses ranging frompositive to negative to even fearful answers. The statistics regardingthese answers would then be displayed to the users. This process mayalso be enveloped in a game. For instance, it might ask one section ofthe crowd to press one response key as fast as they can, while anothersection presses a different response key. The results would then bedisplayed, showing how the sections compared.

The displayed results may be in a variety of forms, bar graphs, piecharts, percentage, ratios, or any other visual representation of data.

Referring now to FIG. 34, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting theoverall audience participation concept, which is initiated at a block3402. Program then proceeds to a block 3404 to send the query or theprompt requesting audience participation in the form of a response in aspecific manner. The program then flows to a function block 3406 todisplay the results. These results are real time results.

Referring now to FIG. 35, there is illustrated a flowchart for oneexample, that of the Wave. This is initiated at a block 3502 and thenproceeds to a block 3504 to phrase the prompt or request on the display108 as a request for the Wave. The program then flows to a functionblock 3506 to display a particular section. The program then flows to ablock 3508 in order to record the response and update the UID. Sinceevery response is in the form of the QID for that particular query, justby looking at a particular QID, the QIDs populating such can bedetermined. For this application, only a single “tap” of the key will beaccepted. If, for some reason, an individual taps the key multipletimes, this would actually be recorded in the QID during thatappropriate time window as a valid input. This might be used for somestatistical analysis, but for the purpose of this application, all thatis necessary is to know how many UIDs have been recorded in that QIDrecord. Each of these UIDs can then be mapped to seats, as indicated bya function block 3510. This is facilitated by the fact that thesephysical location is actually provided as a part of the UID. This can beutilized for such things as delivering prizes, for example, but in thissituation, all that is required is to map the seat number onto thedisplay. It may be that UIDs for other sections also responded, andthese may or may not be displayed. The results displayed are illustratedin a function block 3512. The program then flows to block 3515 in orderto select the next section and then back to the input of function block3506. As each section is displayed, the results are then displayed inreal time. Since this is real time, the time window can be very shortperiod. Thus, after the time period has expired for particular section,no more UIDs for that section will be recorded. Thus, the time window isbasically a “wide-open” time window that is only for the purpose ofdisplaying results. When the section number is up there, the time windowis open only for that section and those associated UIDs. Alternatively,all UIDs can be displayed that respond, and all that is necessary is tocontinually display a prompt that moved from section to section and thendisplay the results of the MUs 110 that responded via their associatedUID.

Referring now to FIG. 36, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofthe overall display of the venue, illustrating a plurality of sections3602. As the UIDs are collected, the particular section can either becompletely eliminated or the shade associated with that particularsection increases a function of the number of UIDs that respond. Thisallows the actual individuals to view the response and asked toparticipate more. Additionally, by analyzing the number of UIDsassociated with that particular QID, it will provide to the analystinformation regarding which sections have people that are actually moreparticipatory than others, among other information.

Referring now to FIG. 37, there is illustrated a flowchart for the“noise” interactive operation. This is initiated at a block 3702 andproceeds to a block 3704 in order to request multiple taps from females,in one example. The program then flows to a function block 3706 in orderto collect in the QID for that query/prompt all of the UIDs respondingthereto. This particular query might also have an SCID that isassociated with gender. Suppose, for example, that the button that theyrequested to be pushed for this particular operation was the “A” button.At this point in time, that particular button is statistically linked toan SCID that has been predetermined to have a certain statisticalrelationship to the individual pressing a button being a female. Asnoted hereinabove, that is probably not 100%. It may be 90% due to thefact that certain people did not read the prompt correctly or they donot care. In any event, an SCID for 10% male/90% female could beassociated with that particular button.

At this point, the overall density for the responses in total justlooking at the QID can be determined, as indicated by a block 3708. Theprogram then flows to a function block 3710 to map this to the seats inthe venue 102 and then to a block 3712 to display the results. It couldbe that the more “taps” that a particular MU 110 is associated with, thehigher the density for that particular seat will be. An average of theoverall density in a particular region about all the seats can bedetermined or the actual seat itself can be made brighter, for example,due to the density of taps associated there with.

A new query is then generated requesting multiple taps from males, asindicated by block 3714. Again, this is a QID that is unique as opposedto the QID for requesting multiple taps from females. The program thenflows to a decision block 3716 to determine if this is to go back aroundto collect the UIDs for this QID and, if so, the program flows to theblock 3706 to collect UIDs for this particular QID associated with thisparticular query/prompt. This continues until it's finished and then, atthe decision block 3716, it flips back over to the input of functionblock 3704 to request the multiple taps from the females in theassociated query therefore. Each of these queries associated with thatparticular QID has a time window associated therewith, of course, asthis makes a QID. Thus, for this purpose, a second QID could begenerated each time a new query is generated, or the program couldmerely create the same QID with a different time window. However, foranalysts, it will be desirable to have a separate QID for each timewindow such that, for example, if there were 10 requests for females torespond and 10 request for males to respond, there would actually be 20QIDs created in the system. These would all be queued up for output at aparticular time. Overall, this could actually be an automatic operation.

Referring now to FIG. 38, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view of avenue display 3802 displaying various sections. There are illustrated intwo detailed section views 3804 and 3806 two sections. In the sections,there are provided density distributions for the responses. As notedhereinabove, this could actually be a heavy shading. However, withknowledge of the UIDs and their seat location, any type of displayoperation can be provided.

Referring now to FIG. 39, there is illustrated a flowchart for acontest. This is initiated at a block 3902 and then proceeds to a block3904 to generate and send a query requesting a rapid tap with some typeof incentive for doing such. For example, the incentive could be that apromotional T-shirt will be given to the individual or individuals thatcould tap the fastest on their MU 110. Program then proceeds to a block3906 in order to start a time window for the overall promotion and thento a function block 3908 to accumulate the various information in theQID and in the SCID, in addition to accumulating such in the UID. Atthis point, all of the database is updated in the various records. Ifall that was desired was to determine which MU 110 had the most taps, itwould only be necessary to determine how many times the QID for thatparticular query was updated by the UID, which is reflected in thepointer back to the UID, as a UID record has a record of each QID thatit responded to. If a time window were 10 seconds, a countdown timer onthe prompting display might show the countdown, but the time windowwould not necessarily be exactly synchronized to that countdown timer.At the end of time, the number of times that the QID was responded to bya particular UID can be determined and that particular seat numberdeclared a winner. The end of the time window is indicated by a decisionblock 3910, at which time an analysis is made of the data at a block3912 and in the winner determined at a block 3914. At this point, theactual UID can be mapped for the winner to the seat, as indicated byblock 3916 and then some type of announcement of that result indicatedat a block 3918. The result could be that a promotional T-shirt isdelivered to multiple seats surpassing a threshold, delivered to asingle seat, or an announcement made that for a particular seat, thepresentation of your ticket, would allow the individual to collect theirprize at later time. In addition, it could be that a raffle was providedof an automobile, for example. That automobile could be advertised asone that would be given away at the end of the event, and based uponresponses the automobile manufacture would provide this promotion andutilize the number of taps to place individuals into the raffle, or theycould just merely be a response that places them in there. This responsewould be for the purpose of, for example, collecting statistics from theparticular crowd. This would allow a large number of seats, take, forexample, 8000 responders out of the 10,000 attendee event to be placedinto the raffle. This would be an incentive for people to pay attentionto the screen and, further, it would actually encourage people toactually activate their applications and enter crowd based responsesystem.

In the event that MU 110 is not entered into the crowd based responsesystem due to the fact that they did not register, it is possible toallow them to register. This would be a prompt that would actually askpeople to turn on their application and respond to a particular responserequest in a certain manner, as entering whether they are male orfemale, i.e., pressing button “D” or “B.” the preferable way, of course,is to register when they enter the stadium. The reason for this is that,at this time, registration would require another payment, and thispayment may be entered at the middle of the overall event. This might betreated different by the overall financial arrangement with the eventplanners.

Referring now to the FIG. 40, there is illustrated a diagrammatic viewof the overall “tapping” response. The MU 110 is illustrated as havingone button that is the focus of the particular query or promotionaloffer, this requesting the individual 202 to select this particularbutton, in this case, the “C” button. This will result in the particularUID for that particular MU 110 to collect both QID occurrences and SCIDoccurrences. Again, this particular request could be for females to tap,and the SCID for that would be different than a request requesting allmales to respond. Any one of these can be summed, as indicated by ablock 4002, in order to provide a total, in one example. As notedhereinabove, any type of analysis can be made upon this particular UID.Here, the issue is to determine how many times a particular UID has beenassociated with a QID within the time window of the QID.

Referring now to FIG. 41, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofsets of media messages that can be presented to event attendees. Eachset of media messages has several different versions of a media messageassociated with it. Media messages are information presented to theevent attendees in the form of audio, video, or still image messages. Amedia message can be either recorded or live. As an example, a firstmedia message set 4110, referred to for ease of readability as M1, mightbe a set of advertisements for vehicles. This set might be comprised ofmessage M1A, an advertisement for a motorcycle, message M1B, anadvertisement for a truck, and message M1C, an advertisement for asports car. A second media message set 4120, which will be referred toas M2, might be a set of descriptions of prizes that can be won in fancontest at the event. This set could be comprised of video message M2A,a description of a an autographed T-shirt from a sports team captain,video message M2B, a description of a piece of sporting equipment usedby a professional athlete, and video message M2C, a description of apair of free tickets to a future event at the event venue. A third mediamessage set 4130, referred to as M3, could be a set of short videosegments from various upcoming movies or television shows. A fourthmedia message set 4140 (M4) is provided to illustrate that the number ofmedia messages in a set of media messages will be different in otherembodiments. Some embodiments contemplated will have media message setswith only one message, while other embodiments will have media messagesets with up to hundreds of messages. Although specific embodiments havebeen provided as examples, a media message can take the form of anymessage, including advertisements, announcements, news updates,entertaining interludes between parts of the event, or even politicalmessages. In some embodiments, sets of messages can have multiple typesand formats of messages. For example, in one embodiment a message setwill include a video advertisement message and an audio news updatemessage. In some embodiments, for each set of messages, which specificmessage is presented is based on the statistical make-up or preferencesof the event attendees or even just the participating users. One way ofselecting the specific media message to present is by analyzing thestatistical data of responses to queries, as is described herein below.

Referring to FIG. 42, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofqueries, each with multiple associated query response statisticalconditions and messages corresponding to those response statisticalconditions. The specific message that is presented after a query isdetermined by which of the query response conditions is met. Forexample, query 4210, referred to as Q1, has associated responsestatistical conditions C1A, C1B, C1C, and C1D, each corresponding to amedia message, M1J, M1K, M1L, and M1M, respectively, which is presentedto the attendees if the corresponding condition is met. Similarly, query4220, referred to as Q2, has associated response statistical conditionsC2A, C2B, C2C, and C2D, each corresponding to a media message, M2J, M2K,M2J, and M2M, respectively, which is presented if the correspondingcondition is met. Note that for query Q2, two of the conditions, C2A andC2C, have the same corresponding media message, M2A. This is toillustrate that in some embodiments, each condition need not have aunique message, and that multiple conditions have the same correspondingmedia message. Query 4230, referred to as Q3, is presented todemonstrate that the number of conditions and corresponding mediamessages associated with a query varies in other embodiments. Althoughthe examples presented have four conditions with corresponding mediamessages, other contemplated embodiments have queries with only onecondition and media message, while other embodiments have as many ashundreds of conditions and media messages. It should also be noted thatin some embodiments, some conditions will result in multiple messagesbeing presented. In some embodiments, multiple response conditions beingmet will result in multiple media messages being presented.

The process of analyzing the statistical data of responses to a query toselect a media message is described herein. UID information and queryresponses can be used to influence subsequent media messages presentedto the attendees of the live event. Referring to FIG. 43, there isillustrated a flowchart depicting the operation of selecting a mediamessage based on the input of event attendees in response to a query.The process starts with start block 4302 and proceeds to decision block4304 which decides if a media message will be presented before thequery. If no pre-query message is to be presented, the process moves tofunction block 3008, where a query is presented to the event attendees.If a media message is to be presented before the query, the processproceeds to function block 4306, where the media message is presented,then to function block 4308, where a query is presented to theattendees. After the query is presented, the process goes to functionblock 4310, which receives responses from the MUs 110. Next, a decisionblock 4312 determines if the time window for responses is still open. Ifso, the process loops back to block 4310 to continue receivingadditional responses. If the window is closed, the operation proceeds toblock 4314, where the responses are analyzed associated with UID data.Next, function block 4316 applies the statistical response data andpreviously known statistical UID information to selection criteria andchooses the next media message to be presented. The program thenproceeds to function block 4318 where the selected media message ispresented to the event attendees. The program moves to block 4320 andends.

FIGS. 44 and 45 depict an example of how responses from MUs 110 toqueries can be used to influence subsequent media messages. Referring toFIG. 44, there is illustrated an image representing an example of videomedia message to be presented to attendees of a live event. In otherembodiments, the media message is a public announcement, anadvertisement, a news update, a political message, or an entertaininginterlude. The media message can be either audio, visual, or video. Inthis example, however, the image represents the first part of a videoadvertisement for a pickup truck. This first part of the advertisementshows a truck 4420 driving down a road 4422 until it arrives to andstops at a point 4424 where the road splits into three different paths.Each of the paths leads to a different type of driving destination. Path4426, Path “A,” leads to driving destination 4440 which includes a trailin the mountains. Path 4428, Path “B,” leads to driving destination 4442which includes a trail in the forest. Path 4430, Path “C,” leads todriving destination 4446 which includes a trail in a valley with a riverand a lake. At this point, the first part of the advertisement concludeswith a message that informs the attendees that they can help decidewhere the truck will go next by choosing which path the truck will take.A query is then presented which prompts the attendees to use their MUs110 to make a selection indicating their preferred path for the truck totake. For instance, the query might say, “Which adventure do YOU want totackle during halftime?” The query would prompt the event attendees toselect “A” on their mobile devices if they want to see the truck go downPath A and drive through the mountains, “B” if they want the truck to godown Path B and drive through the forest, or “C” if they want to see thetruck take Path C drive through the valley with the river and lake.

Referring to FIG. 45 and continuing with the example of the truckadvertisement, the second part of the advertisement video is presentedafter the time window for response queries has ended. The second part ofthe advertisement will be one of three video messages. The first videomessage, demonstrated herein with example image 4510, shows the truckdriving through the mountains. The second video message, demonstratedherein with example image 4520, shows the truck driving through theforest. The third video message, demonstrated herein with example image4530, shows the truck driving through the valley with the river. Whichvideo message is played will depend on statistical data from the queryresponses. For example, if, in responding to where they would like tosee the truck go next, more UIDs choose “A,” indicating the user wouldlike to see the truck drive through the mountain path, than “B” or “C,”then the video message showing the truck driving through the mountainswould be presented as the second part of the truck advertisement. Inthis manner, the event attendees “have a say” in what messages arepresented to them.

The example depicted in FIGS. 44 and 45 represent an embodiment of thedisclosure. As previously noted, other embodiments will have mediamessages that are video, audio, or visual in nature, or evencombinations of the three, and will include live and pre-recordedmessages. Some embodiments will have media messages presented before thequery, while other embodiments will not. The truck advertisementdescribed is only one type of content. The media messages in otherembodiments include public announcements, news updates, instant replays,video or audio feed from events at other locations, advertisements,event announcements, or any other notification or message useful toevent attendees. Also, the response conditions leading to each mediamessage will not be as readily apparent to the event attendees in someembodiments as in the presented example of the truck advertisement. Insome embodiments, the event attendees will not know how their queryresponses will affect the subsequent media message or messages. Someembodiments will not present a query as simple as “which message wouldyou like to see?” but will nonetheless base post-query media messages onstatistical information from the query responses. In some embodiments,the mobile users will not even know that their responses to queriesaffect the choice of the subsequent media message or messages.

The selection of which message to present after query responses havebeen received and analyzed can be based on various kinds of statisticaldata. The media message selection could be based solely on which choicereceived the most “votes” from the users, or the message selection couldbe based other statistical information gathered from the responses.Since demographic information can be associated with UIDs, an advertiseror media partner might choose to present a message based on theresponses from UIDs associated with a certain demographic, such as acertain gender or household income. Continuing with the example of thepickup truck advertisement, the manufacturer of the truck in theadvertisement might be especially interested in a particular segment ofthe event attendee population, such as males, and might focus on theresponses from the UIDs associated with male users. For example, if 60%of responding UIDs indicated “C,” the valley with the river, as thepreferred destination for the truck, but 70% of responding UIDsstatistically associated with males indicated “A,” the mountain trail,as the preferred destination, the video represented by image 4510showing the truck driving through the mountains might be presented asthe second part of the advertisement if the truck manufacturer isparticularly interested in keeping the attention of male eventattendees.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the query presented to thevenue attendees prompts users to input a response into their mobileunits as a way to determine which portions of the venue have the mostattendees paying attention to the queries and multimedia messages.Referring now to FIG. 46, there is illustrated a sports stadium 4610,with venue attendees 4612. (In other embodiments, the venue will be aconcert hall. In yet other embodiments, the venue will be a theater.)The seating of stadium 4610 is divided into multiple seating sections,labeled “Section A,” Section B,” and “Section C.” Stadium 4610 includesa large display 4620 which can be seen by the event attendees. Thedisplay presents a message to the event attendees prompting them torespond with some kind of input into their MUs 110, such as by tappingrapidly a “button” on an application running on their MUs 110. Themessage prompt will be displayed for a predetermined time window, forexample, fifteen seconds. The system records the number of tap responsesfor each UID. Since each UID can be associated with a seat location inthe event venue, the system can determine which seating section had themost tap responses during the time window. Which seating section had themost taps will affect the subsequent media message that is presented tothe event attendees. In some embodiments, the section with the most tapswill see a message indicating each attendee in that section wins aprize. In other embodiments, the message might simply indicate whichsection produced the most taps. In some embodiments, seating sections insporting events are divided based on which team the attendees support.For example, one seating section could be comprised mostly of “hometeam” fans, while another seating section is comprised mostly of “awayteam” fans. In some of these embodiments, the post-query message will bea message related to the sports team favored by the seating section withthe most taps.

In other embodiments, the taps are not sorted by seating section, butare sorted by some other type of information, such as demographicinformation associated with the UIDs. For example, some embodiments thetaps are categorized by male or female UIDs. In other embodiments, theyare categorized by age range. In other embodiments, they are categorizedby the team or player the attendees' support, regardless of where theattendees' seats are.

In a variation of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 46, event attendeestap their MUs 110 in response to a query that takes the form of a game.Event attendees (and thus their UIDs) are divided into groups as teams(for the purposes of the tapping game). The number of teams can beanywhere from only a single team to several dozen teams. A visual oraudio query message then prompts attendees to “tap” their MUs 110 asmany times as they can during a predetermined time window. Once the timewindow has expired, a media message communicates to the attendees howmany total taps were performed by the UIDs associated with each team. Insome embodiments, the process will be repeated, with multiple promptsand time windows for tapping. At the end of each time window, a mediamessage will communicate the number of taps per team for the latest timewindow, as well as the cumulative number of taps for each team duringall of the time windows during the event. The game can be presented inseveral ways. In some embodiments, it will take the form of a virtualrace taking place on a video screen over several time windows. Each teamhas an associated horse, person, dog, colored dot, or any other objector animal typically involved in a race. The more taps each teamaccumulates during each time window, the farther down the “track” thatteam's racer will travel at the end of the time window. Each race couldlast only one time window, or a race could span several time windows,with each time window representing a “leg” of the race and beingaccounted for in the “leg” during the next time window.

Referring to FIG. 47, there is illustrated an example embodiment whichdisplays a message based on the gender make-up of the event attendeesthat respond to a query to “check-in” with their MUs 110. Query 4710 isa message that is presented to the event attendees, in either an audioor visual format. Query 4710 prompts event attendees 202 to “check-in”using the application on their MUs 110. This query is presented any timethat the event proprietors wish to know the demographic make-up of theattendees paying attention to the queries and multimedia messages. Insome embodiments, the query will prompt to attendees to “check in” to beentered into a contest. The system will allow attendees to “check in”during a predetermined time window following the presentation of query4710. Once the time window has expired, the system will determine, basedon information associated with the UIDs that “checked-in,” thedemographic make-up of the respondents. The message presented after thetime window has expired depends on the analysis of the demographicmake-up of the attendees that responded. In the example embodimentpresented, the system determines the gender make-up of the attendees“checking-in.” The post-query message presented is at least partiallydetermined by this gender make-up. Situation 4720 illustrates that if asignificant majority of the attendees checking in are female, afemale-oriented message is presented. Situation 4730 illustrates that ifthe numbers of males and females checking in is roughly equal, or notsignificantly weighted one way or the other, a gender neutral message ispresented. Similarly, situation 4740 illustrates that if the number ofmales checking is significantly greater than the number of females“checking-in,” a male-oriented message is presented.

In different embodiments, different demographics will be analyzed. Forexample, in some embodiments, the check-ins will be categorized by theage of the user associated with a particular MU 110. In otherembodiments, the check-ins will be categorized by geographic locationsof the attendees' homes. In other embodiments, the check-ins will becategorized based on sports team affiliations.

Referring now to FIG. 48, there is illustrated a diagram of the way inwhich an embodiment of the system uses queries and responses todetermine which media message to present next. Illustrated in thediagram are several media messages 4810. In some embodiments, thesemessages are in video form, while in other embodiments, the messages arein audio form. Also illustrated are several queries 4820, which are alsoeither audio or video in form. Finally, sets 4830 of responses toqueries 4820 are illustrated. These sets 4830 of responses are responsesfrom event attendees and are inputs into MUs 110. The system starts bypresenting media message M1. After media message M1 is presented, queryQ1 is presented to the event attendees, prompting the attendees to inputa response into their MUs 110. After receiving the responses that makeup the set R1 of responses, the system analyzes R1. Next, a second mediamessage 4810 is presented. The media message will be M2, M2′, or M2″.Which media message is presented is based at least in part on theanalysis of R1. After the second media message is presented, the systempresents third media message, or if M2″ was the second media messagepresented, presents query Q2 to the event attendees, prompting responsesthat will form set R2. The third media message will be M3 (if M2 waspreviously presented), M3′ (if M2′ was previously presented), or eitherM3A″ or M3B″ (if M2″ was previously presented). If M2″ had been thesecond message presented, then the analysis of R2, the set of responsesto query Q2, will be a factor in determining which one of M3A″ and M3B″is presented. Finally, a last media message will be presented. If M3′was previously presented, M4′ will be presented. If M3A″ was presented,M4A″ will be presented, and if M3B″ was previously presented, M4B″ willbe presented. If, however, M3 was the previously presented message, theneither M4A or M4B will be the next message. After M3 is presented, queryQ3 will be presented to the event attendees, prompting responses thatwill form set R3 of responses. The analysis of R3 by the system willfactor into which one of M4A or M4B will be presented to the audience.

The example embodiment shown in FIG. 48 illustrate the aspect of thedisclosure whereby the messages being presented to event attendees can“branch” onto different possible paths based on user responses toqueries. This branching can allow for a “story” to be told through themessages, with the direction of the “story” being at least partiallycontrolled by the event attendees (or the statistics associatedtherewith) as they respond to the various queries. In some embodiments,the “story” is an entertaining narrative, while in other embodiments, itis a series of related advertisements. In some embodiments, the eventattendees are informed that their query responses affect which messageswill be presented next, while in other embodiments, the event attendeesare not informed of this. The specific number of media messagespresented, as well as the number of queries will vary in differentembodiments. Some embodiments have a query and a response analysis afterevery message. Other embodiments only have queries presented aftercertain messages. In some embodiments, the selection of a post-querymessage will be based solely on the statistical information from theresponses. In other embodiments, the post-query message will also bebased on other previously gathered statistical data about the UIDs.

Referring to FIG. 49, there is illustrated an embodiment whereby theevent attendees influence the choice of a music video to be presented.In this embodiment, a media message represented by block 4910 in theform of short video clips is presented to the audience. The messagecomprises of short clips of music videos, each clip being of a songperformed by a different band or group. Next, a query 4920 is presentedto the event attendees prompting them to select which band or group theythought was the best or the most entertaining. At block 4930, the eventattendees user their MUs 110 to select their choice for which band orgroup performed the best. Next, at block 4940, the system compiles andanalyzes the responses of the attendees and generates statisticalinformation about the responses. In some embodiments, this informationwill include previously obtained demographic data about the respondingUIDs. Following analysis of the responses, a media message in the formof the full-length version 4950 of one of the music video clips will bepresented to the attendees. Which full-length version 4950 will bepresented is at least partially influenced by the statistics of theresponses to the query 4920. In some embodiments, the video clip thatreceived the most “votes” from responding attendees will have itsfull-length version presented as the post-query media message. In otherembodiments, the choice of which full-length video to present will bedetermined by which clip receives the most “votes” from a specificdemographic, such as a particular gender, age group, nationality, orincome level.

In some embodiments, responses to queries will affect the choice ofsubsequent queries to present to event attendees. Turning to FIG. 50,there is illustrated a diagram showing how the available queries to bepresented are organized into selection “trees.” Query 5002 (Q1)represents the first query in the query tree to be presented to theevent attendees. After attendees submit responses making up response set5004 (R1), the system analyzed the responses to R1 using an algorithmtailored for analyzing responses to Q1. The results 5006 of thisalgorithm are a function of R1 (represented by F(R1)). The next querypresented to the event attendees will be one of the queries 5008, eitherQ2A or Q3A. The selection of which of these queries will be presented,and which “branch” of the query “tree” to travel, is at least in partdetermined by F(R1). The process continues again, where either Q2A orQ2B is presented to the audience. Q2A or Q2B will then be followed byone of the responses 5010 R2A or R2B, respectively. The response setthat is obtained will then be analyzed by another function, with theresults of this function represented by blocks 5012. The processcontinues, branching into different paths to one of queries 5014 as thequeries and responses help determine which subsequent queries topresent. In some embodiments, there will be multiple queries at every“level” of the tree. In some embodiments, not every query will have theability to branch off to multiple subsequent query paths. In someembodiments, one or more of the queries will have more than two possiblepaths to branch to, while in other embodiments, queries with multiplepaths will only have two possible paths.

Turning to FIG. 51, there is illustrated a flowchart showing the processof using the analysis of query responses to select the next query to bepresented. The process starts with Start block 5102 and flows tofunction block 5104, where a query is presented to the event attendees,prompting a response. The process moves to block 5106, where theattendee responses are received by the system, then to block 5108, wherethe responses are processed and stored by the system. Next, at block5110, the responses are analyzed for statistical information. Next, atdecision block 5112, if there are no more queries to be presented, theprocess ends at End block 5114. If, however, more queries are to bepresented, the process moves to block 5116, where the responses to theprevious query are analyzed with an algorithm tailored to that query.Next, the process flows to block 5118, where the results of the analysisfrom block 5116 are used to select the next query to be presented.Finally, the process closes the loop to 5104 and presents the newlyselected query.

Referring now to FIG. 52, there is illustrated a flowchart depictinganother embodiment for the operation of the merchandising feature areamethod 5200. The method 5200 begins at step 5202 where a vendor makesitems available for purchase, the items being associated with visualindicia. For instance, one item might be associated with the letter “A,”one item might be associated with the number “5,” one item might beassociated with a triangle symbol, and so on. It will be understood thatthe vendor could be any type of vendor that sells goods, such as retailstores, direct sales salesmen, vendors that sell items on the internet,vendors that sell items on television, or any other type of vendor. Atstep 5204, a customer views the available items. At step 5206, thecustomer chooses one of the items to purchase by selecting on thecustomer's mobile unit the specific visual indicia among the displayedgroup of visual indicia associated with the item the customer wishes topurchase.

At this point, a button ID with a timestamp is created. It is providedin order to encode within the button ID the information about the buttonunique to the application, i.e., a unique button code. This is thencombined with a timestamp and sent via the overriding offer application,which is associated with the screen 2308, to the provider 2306 in orderto interface with the vendor 2312 or to just send the information tovendor 2312. This is indicated at a block 5208. The program then flowsto block 5210, wherein this is sent via the MU 110 to the carrier andthen to the vendor 2312. At step 5212, the overall order is processed.This process includes verifying payment and then sending order/paymentto the vendor, as indicated by block 5214. The vendor will then deliverthe product as indicated by block 5216, and the customer is billed bythe provider, as indicated by block 5218.

Referring now to FIG. 53, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofone embodiment of a system for providing items to be sold based onvisual indicia within the range of a beacon. There is shown a sales area5302. This may be the confines of a retail location, the confines of ahome where direct sales are taking place, or any other location wheregoods may be sold. Within the sales area 5302, there are a plurality ofbeacon areas 5304. The plurality of beacon areas 5304 may be achievedusing various forms of wireless networks or other configurations. Forexample, the plurality of beacon areas 5304 may be WIFI networks,Bluetooth networks, BLE networks, Zigbee networks, Thread networks,wireless mesh networks, achieved with geo-fencing, or any other methodof creating a beacon area that a customer may use to connect to all ofthese non-overlapping networks. Within the plurality of beacon areas5304 may be a plurality of items for sale 5306. Each item of theplurality of items for sale 5306 is marked with a particular visualindicia that is unique from the visual indicia used to mark the otheritems within the plurality of items 5306. For example, if a t-shirt ismarked with the visual indicia of “A” within one beacon area, therewould be no other item within that same beacon area marked with thevisual indicia of “A.” However, another item within a different beaconarea may be marked with the same visual indicia. For example, if at-shirt is marked with the visual indicia of “A” within one beacon area,a pair of shoes that is within another beacon area may also be markedwith the visual indicia of “A.” Thus, the beacon area representsproximity to the goods.

Referring now to FIG. 54, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting oneembodiment of a method 5400 for purchasing items to be sold based onvisual indicia within the range of a beacon. The method 5400 begins atstep 5402 where a vendor makes items available for purchase, with theitems being within a range of a wireless beacon and the items beingassociated with visual indicia. For instance, one item might beassociated with the letter “A,” one item might be associated with thenumber “5,” one item might be associated with a triangle symbol, and soon. It will be understood that the vendor could be any type of vendorthat sells goods, such as retail stores, direct sales salesmen, vendorsthat sell items on the internet, vendors that sell items on television,or any other type of vendor. At step 5404, a customer enters the rangeof a wireless beacon and connects to the wireless beacon in the mannerappropriate for the particular beacon type or just receives a signalfrom the beacon. This connection may be achieved automatically, or thecustomer may have to manually connect to the beacon. At step 5406, acustomer views the available items. At step 5408, the customer choosesone of the items to purchase by selecting on the customer's mobile unitthe visual indicia associated with the item the customer wishes topurchase. At decision block 5410, the system determines if the customeris within range of multiple beacons. This may occur if there areoverlapping beacon areas. If so, the process moves to step 5412 wherethe user is prompted to verify his beacon ID. The customer may knowwhich beacon he is connected to based on the name of the organization heis shopping with, or if the organization has multiple beacon areas, theparticular physical area within the beacon area may have signage that ismarked with the beacon ID so that the customer knows which beacon areahe currently is within. The process then moves to step 5414. If atdecision block 5410 it is established that the customer is not withinrange of multiple beacon areas, the process also moves to step 5414.

At this point, a button ID with a timestamp is created. It is providedin order to encode within the button ID the information about the buttonunique to the application. This is then combined with a timestamp andsent via the overriding offer application to a service provider/mobilecarrier in order to interface with the vendor selling the items to besold or to just send the information to vendor. This is indicated atstep 5414. The program then flows to block 5416, wherein this is sentvia the MU 110 to the carrier and then to the vendor. At step 5418, theoverall order is processed. This process includes verifying payment andthen sending order/payment to the vendor, as indicated by block 5420.The vendor will then deliver the product as indicated by block 5422, andthe customer is billed by the provider, as indicated by block 5424. Theproduct may be shipped to the customer, or the vendor may simply handthe item to the customer if the customer is at a vendor location, tosatisfy step 5422.

Overall, the use of a beacon for determining proximity to a particularlocation can be achieved by disposing a very small device such as BLEdevice or a Zigbee device proximate to the appropriate goods. This canbe a very low powered beacon that just emits, in one embodiment, andidentifying a signal which is basically a wireless broadcast containingthe unique ID of the particular beacon. This beacon could be morepowerful which would allow it to transmit not only its unique ID butalso information associated with that unique ID. Thus, when a user witha portable device running proprietary application comes into proximityto the beacon, i.e., the transmit range of beacon, it will have anappropriate radio associated with that beacon contained internalthereto. This radio will constantly scan the area for signals associatedwith a particular type of beacon. However, other types of devices mightuse the same technology and transmit their IDs. Thus, when a scan iscomplete and, for example, multiple unique IDs are retrieved, it may bepossible that additional information associated with the ID can allowone to distinguish this particular beacon as being associated with theoperation of the application. Alternatively, a lookup table can beprovided for determining if a particular unique ID is associated withthe application.

When a match is found, this indicates that the beacon is associated withthe goods. All that is required is for the mobile unit to transmitinformation regarding the unique ID associated with the button pressedand the beacon ID (or information associated with the beacon) back to acentral office for processing. As described hereinabove, that processingcan be performed at the mobile carrier or at a separate site. It isimportant, however, that the mobile carrier is accessed because themobile carrier contains the billing information and the mobile carrieris the vehicle by which the billing is carried out. Thus, theinformation could be sent to the mobile carrier which is then relayed tothe store associated with that unique ID and then the vendor confirmsthe existence of the product that is ready for shipping and coordinateswith the carrier to confirm that the carrier will bill the customer forthe goods, at which time the confirmation by the carrier of the billingwill result in the vendor being authorized to send the goods to thecustomer via a mailing address associated with customer account numberor, alternatively, the vendor could be authorized to actually transferpossession of the goods at the location.

An alternate operation, the entire operation could be triggered by themobile unit coming into proximity with the beacon. When the beacon isstanding and a recognition of the unique ID indicates that it isassociated with the application, the full application is launched andthe above process carried out.

In some embodiments, the mobile units 110 are part of and transmit theirresponses through one or more mesh networks. Referring now to FIG. 55,there is illustrated an overhead view of venue in the form of a stadium5511. In some embodiments, the venue is instead a theater, while inothers the venue is a concert hall. Inside the stadium 5511 are aplurality of mesh networks 5521. The mobile units within the stadiumconnect to and join one of the mesh networks 5521. Since the coveragearea of each of the mesh networks is limited, several mesh networks arepresent in the stadium to ensure that no matter where a mobile unit isin the stadium, there is a high likelihood that a mesh network will beavailable and in range so that the mobile unit can connect to it. Eachmesh network is connected to external networks via hotspots 5531. Thehotspots 5531 facilitate communication between each mesh network 5521and whichever external networks the hotspots are connected to, includingthe LCO 120 and any intermediary networks between the LCO and thehotspots.

Referring now to FIG. 56, there is illustrated a plurality of meshnetworks 5611 within the stadium 5511 illustrated in FIG. 55. Tomaximize the chance that any given mobile unit will be in range of andwill be able to connect to a mesh network, the mesh networks will havecoverage areas that overlap with each other as shown FIG. 56. Ideally,any time a mobile unit exits the coverage area of one mesh network, itwill already have entered the coverage area of another mesh network.That way, when a mobile unit moves outside the range of the mesh networkit is a part of and leaves that network, it will simply join a meshnetwork with a coverage area that overlapped the mesh network it left.This will maximize the ability of mobile units to stay connected to meshnetworks and minimize the areas of the stadium 5511 where mobile unitswill not be able to connect to any mesh network.

Referring now to FIG. 57, there is illustrated a more detailed diagramof several mesh networks and a hotspot as would exist in the stadium5511 in FIG. 55. Each mesh network 5711 is comprised of multiple mobileunits 110 and a bridge device 5721. The mobile units 110 are connectedto the bridge device 5721 either directly or via other devices in themesh network. The function of the bridge devices 5721 is to connect eachmesh network, and the devices on each mesh network, to externalnetworks. In some embodiments, the bridge device is connected toexternal networks wirelessly, while in some embodiments, the bridgedevice is connected via Ethernet or another wired connection. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 57, all of the bridge devices areconnected to at least one associated hotspot 5731, there being aplurality of hotspots 5731 disposed throughout the venue. The hotspot5731 is, in turn, connected to LCO 120 and any intermediary networksbetween LCO 120 and the hotspot 5731.

As a user walks around the venue, the may leave the receive range of thebridge device 5731 it is associated with. This will require entering anew mesh network when it is within range of a bridge device 5731 forthat network. Since only about 256 devices can be on a mesh network, thedevice will have to find a network with a free spot with its locale.

Referring now to FIG. 58, there is illustrated a diagram of anembodiment of the disclosure which uses a mesh network 5800—for example,Thread or Zigbee—to connect the mobile units to bridge devices whichreceives query responses from the mobile units. These bridge devicesthen forward the mobile unit responses out of the mesh network toexternal networks. One or more bridge device 5810 is directly connected(wirelessly) to a certain mobile unit or mobile units near the bridgedevice 5810. The bridge device 5810 is also connected to an externalnetwork and acts as a bridge between the mesh network and the externalnetwork. In some embodiments, the bridge device or devices are connecteddirectly to local central office (LCO) 120. In other embodiments,however, there is another device which relays information from thebridge device 5810 to the LCO 120. The mobile units connected directlyto the bridge device are represented as mobile units 5820. Double linesrepresent direct connections 5850 between mobile units 5820 and bridgedevice 5810. The mobile units 5820 maintain wireless connections 5850with the bridge device(s) 5810. Mobile units 5820 transmit informationto bridge device 5810, but also receive information from other mobileunits in the network and relay that information to bridge device 5810.Some mobile units are not connected to bridge device 5810, but areinstead connected to other mobile units, including mobile units 5820that are themselves connected to bridge device 5810. These are mobileunits 5830. Mobile-units-to-mobile-unit network connections 5860 arerepresented by single lines connecting mobile units. Mobile units 5830not only transmit information to receive information from other mobileunits and transmit information to other mobile units. Finally, somemobile units are only connected to other mobile units in the network andonly transmit information to other mobile units. These are mobile units5840. The mesh network 5800 is comprised of the mobile units and thebridge device(s) 5810. The mesh network 5800 allows multiple mobileunits to create a network among themselves which includes the bridgedevice 5810. Not all mobile units need to be connected directly to ortransmitting information directly to the bridge device 5810. Instead,the mobile units 5820, 5830, 5840 form a “mesh” of connections whichlink all of the mobile units together within a single mesh network thatis defined by a finite limited number of network members. As long aseach mobile unit is within communication range with at least one othermobile unit in its network, or anything else on the mesh network, eachmobile unit can transmit information to another mobile unit or device onthe network, which will then transmit the information to another mobileunit or device on the network. The information is transmitted from unitto unit until the information is received by a mobile unit or device onthe network that is directly connected to the bridge device. That mobileunit then transmits the information to the bridge device 5510, whichthen transmits the information out of the mesh network to an externalnetwork.

Also, mobile units can be connected to multiple other mobile unitswithin the mesh network. Consequently, if for some reason a mobile unitleaves the network (the mobile unit is turned off, turns off theapplication, etc.) any mobile units connected to it can still maintaincommunication with bridge device 5810 via the other mobile units withinthe network to which they are connected. Mobile units can enter or leavethe mesh network at any time. Mobile units can also change what functionthey serve within the mobile network. For example, a mobile unit mightstart out connected directly to bridge device 5810 as a mobile unit5820. If, however, the mobile unit moves far enough away from the bridgedevice 5810, or for any other reason the connection between the mobileunit and the bridge device 5810 degrades, the mobile unit mightdisconnect from the bridge device 5810 and become a mobile unit 5830within the mesh network. Similarly, a mobile unit 5840 might pick up newconnections to mobile units entering the mesh network, making the formermobile unit 5840 (which only transmitted information) a mobile unit 5830(which receives information from some mobile units and transmitsinformation to other unit). The ability of the mobile units to changeroles within the network at any time adds to the network's robustness.

Turning to FIG. 59, there is illustrated another embodiment using a meshnetwork. In this embodiment, like that shown in FIG. 59, the meshnetwork 5900 includes at least one bridge device 5910 (in someembodiments, connected directly to LCO 120, in others connected to LCO120 via another device), mobile units 5920 connected directly to bridgedevice 5910 (via connections 5950), mobile units 5930 which receive andtransmit information to and from other mobile units within the network(via connections 5960), and mobile units 5940 which only transmitinformation to other mobile units. This embodiment, however, alsoincludes wireless relay stations 5970. The wireless relay stations 5970are part of the mesh network 5970 and fill in any “gaps” in the networkthat might be caused by the absence of a mobile unit in the area. Arelay station 5970 is a member of the network 5970 and can be connectedto the bridge device 5910, to nearby mobile units 5920, 5930, 5940, toother relay stations 5970, or to any combination of the three. The relaystations 5970 do not act as mobile units by providing responses toqueries, rather, they simply relay information from mobile units throughthe network until the information reaches the bridge device 5910. Inthis way, the mesh network 5900 will not be adversely affected by a lackof mobile units in a particular physical location within the eventvenue. Even if a particular mobile unit is not within communicationrange of either the bridge device 5910 or another mobile unit in thenetwork, the mobile unit can still communicate with the network if it iswithin communication range of a relay station 5970 that is part of thenetwork.

The devices on each embodiment of a mesh network presented communicatevia radio frequency using the IEEE 802.15.4 communication standard. Themesh networks use internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) for routingdevice-to-device communication. Therefore, the mobile units and wirelessrelay stations each have unique IPv6 addresses, enabling the routerswithin the mesh network to route information between the devices. Themesh network is comprised of devices acting in four different roles:routers, router-eligible end devices (REEDs), border routers, and enddevices. Routers provide routing services to network devices. Routersboth receive and transmit information to and from other devices on themesh network. They also allow (or deny) new devices to join the meshnetwork. End devices communicate with the network through networkrouters, but do not forward messages from other devices. Router-eligibleend devices (REEDs) are devices which have the ability to act as networkrouters if needed, but generally act as end devices. Finally, borderrouters are provide all of the functionality of normal routers, but theyalso provide connectivity from the 802.15.4 mesh network to anothernetwork, such as a Wi-Fi network or an Ethernet network. Each meshnetwork disclosed has devices serving as border routers and either enddevices or REEDs. Some mesh network embodiments will also comprisedevises filing the roles of normal routers, end devices, or both.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 58, mobile units 5820, 5830, 5840 allact as REEDs. This is because they can perform routing services andforward messages within the mesh network if needed, but typically willonly transmit messages to other routing devices. In some embodiments,bridge device 5810 acts as a border router, as it performs routingservices within the network, but also routs messages, usually in theform of query responses, from the mesh network to the local centraloffice 120, either directly or via external intermediary networks. Thewireless relay stations 5970 shown in FIG. 59 act as routers within themesh network, since they do not generate their own response messages,but function only to forward response messages from mobile units in thenetwork through the network on to the wireless receiving station 5910.

For a mobile unit to participate in the mesh network, it must first jointhe mesh network by proceeding through either two or three phases:discovery (not always required), commissioning, and attaching. Duringthe first phase, discovery, the mobile unit (the joining device)discovers the mesh network and establishes contact with a device withinthe mesh network acting as a router (or border router or REED). To dothis, the mobile unit scans for network channels and sends out a beaconrequest on each channel. The mesh network, when it is accepting newdevices into the network, will respond with a beacon message comprisingthe network Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a permit joining beacon.The mobile unit, upon receiving the permit joining beacon, has nowdiscovered the mesh network. The mobile unit then uses Message LinkEstablishment (MLE) messages to detect, establish communication, andconfigure a secure radio link with a nearby router with which it canperform the next step, commissioning. The mesh networks in theembodiments presented herein are secure networks. Because of this, newdevices cannot join the network until they are granted access by themesh network in the phase called “commissioning.” It should be notedthat if a mobile unit already has commissioning information, it does nothave to go through the discovery phase. Commissioning can beaccomplished on the mesh network via two different methods. With thefirst method, the out-of-band method, commissioning information isconfigured on the mobile unit directly. This allows the mobile unit tojoin the mesh network as soon as it is introduced to the network. Withthe second method, a commissioning session set up between the mobileunit and an application on another device securely deliverscommissioning information to the mobile unit, at which point the mobileunit is allowed to join the mesh network. In some embodiments, themobile unit will be required deliver a passcode to the mesh network (oran external device controlling which devices may join the network)before commissioning information will be furnished to the mobile unit.In some embodiments, this passcode will be furnished to the eventattendees by the event venue. The final phase of joining the meshnetwork is “attaching.” During “attaching,” a mobile unit which hascommissioning information contacts a router already on the mesh network,exchanges link configuration information, and finally joins the meshnetwork.

As described above herein, the network containing the mobile units canbe a mesh network. In these embodiments, devices on the network canforward messages for other devices. In some embodiments, mobile unitscan forward messages to other devices on the network, including othermobile units. In other embodiments, only dedicated relay stations canforward messages from other devices on the mesh network. If theconnection between devices acting as routers or between a mobile unitsending a message to a router becomes unreliable, then the mesh networkwill forward the message through another router in the network. A devicerouting table is maintained by one of the routers on the mesh network tomake sure that all routers have up-to-date information on possiblemessage paths for the other routers in the network. Included in theinformation regarding message paths is the “cost” of routing informationfrom each router device to every other router device in the network. Thebetter the quality of the link between a device on the network and aneighboring device is (measured by Received Signal Strength Indicator,or RSSI), the lower the “cost” of transferring messages one way or theother between the devices is. Each routing device calculates the “cost”of messages to and from its neighbor and provides this information tothe mesh network. The cost of sending a message from one router toanother in the network is therefore the sum of the costs of sending amessage over each link on the path from one router to the other router.The costs of delivering messages within the network are updated on aregular basis, so the devices within the network always have up-to-dateinformation on which path is the most efficient path on which to send amessage.

FIG. 60 illustrates another embodiment using a mesh network 6000. Inthis embodiment, the mesh network comprises a bridge device 6010,network relay stations 6020, and mobile units 6030. In this embodiment,mobile units 6030 act only as end units within the mesh network 6000.They do not forward messages from other devices on the mesh network.Rather, they only send response messages to relay stations 6020. In thisembodiment, the relay stations 6020 act as routers and within thenetwork. Their function is to forward messages from mobile units 6030 onthe network to other relay stations 6020 on their way to the bridgedevice 6010. They can also facilitate the joining of new mobile units tothe mesh network. The mobile units 6030 are connected to the relaystations 6020 within the network, which are then connected to otherrelay stations within the network. Some relay stations 6020 areconnected directly to bridge device 6010. The bridge device 6010functions as a border router, connecting directly to networks externalto mesh network 6000.

In some embodiments, the event venue will have multiple mesh networksactive simultaneously in different areas of the venue. In theseembodiments, the coverage areas of at least some of the mesh networkswill overlap with each other. If a mobile unit moves out of range of onenetwork, the mobile unit will be able to automatically join a differentmesh network.

Referring now to FIG. 61, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofone embodiment a relational database trending determination model. Thereis illustrated a first QID+RID record 6102 containing a first pluralityof UIDs 6104. Each of the first plurality of UIDs 6104 is a UIDidentifying a particular individual who answered the question andprovided the response associated with the first QID+RID record 6102.This is illustrated by showing a link to an SCID 6106 associated withthe question, linked from the QID of the first QID+RID record 6102.Similarly, the response associated with the question is shown by a linkto the answer 6108 associated with the RID of the first QID+RID record6102. With respect to the first QID+RID record 6102, the associated SCID2806 is “Gender,” denoting that the question is one asking for thegender of the responders. The associated answer 6108 is “R2:Female,”which denotes that the associated answer 6108 is the second answerchoice for the associated question, with that answer choice being the“female” option.

There is further illustrated a second QID+RID record 6110 containing asecond plurality of UIDs 6112. Each of the second plurality of UIDs 6112is a UID identifying a particular individual who answered the questionand provided the response associated with the second QID+RID record6110. This is illustrated by showing a link to an SCID 6114 associatedwith the question, linked from the QID of the second QID+RID record6110. Similarly, the response associated with the question is shown by alink to the answer 6116 associated with the RID of the second QID+RIDrecord 6110. With respect to the second QID+RID record 6110, theassociated SCID 6114 is “Political Affiliation,” denoting that thequestion is one asking for the political affiliation of the responders.The associated answer 6116 is “R3:Democrat,” which denotes that theassociated answer 6116 is the third answer choice for the associatedquestion, with that answer choice being the “democrat” option.

There is further illustrated a third QID+RID record 6118 containing athird plurality of UIDs 6120. Each of the third plurality of UIDs 6120is a UID identifying a particular individual who answered the questionand provided the response associated with the third QID+RID record 6118.This is illustrated by showing a link to an SCID 6122 associated withthe question, linked from the QID of the third QID+RID record 6118.Similarly, the response associated with the question is shown by a linkto the answer 6124 associated with the RID of the third QID+RID record6118. With respect to the third QID+RID record 6118, the associated SCID6122 is “Gender,” denoting that the question is one asking for thegender of the responders. The associated answer 6124 is “R1:Male,” whichdenotes that the associated answer 6124 is the first answer choice forthe associated question, with that answer choice being the “male”option.

There is further illustrated in FIG. 61 a plurality of associations 6126between UIDs and the QID+RID records. There is shown that UID(1),UID(4), UID(9), and UID(10) are each within both the first QID+RIDrecord 6102 and the second QID+RID record 6110. This means that theindividuals represented by UID(1), UID(4), UID(9), and UID(10) answereda gender query as “female” and also answered a political affiliationquery as “democrat.” Further, it can be seen that UID(5) answered thegender question as “male” and the political affiliation question as“democrat.” This arrangement allows for analytics to be run onparticular groups, thus forming a social measurement matrix. Forexample, the illustration in FIG. 61 shows that, out of the sixrespondents who answered “female” for the gender question, four of themalso stated that they affiliate themselves with the democratic party.This means that approximately 67% of the female respondents identifywith the democratic party. It can also be seen that, of those whoresponded “democrat,” 80% were female. It can also be seen that only oneout of 4 males answered the political affiliation question as“democrat,” meaning that only 25% of the male respondents identify withthe democratic party.

It will be understood that some female or male respondents may not haveanswered, but the analytics or queries used to pull the stored data fromthe database may be tailored to check whether UIDs that answered thefirst question chose one of the responses for the political affiliationquestion. For example, the first QID+RID record 6102 consisting offemale respondents has UID(1), UID(2), UID(4), UID(7), UID(9), andUID(10) answering as being “female.” However, UID(2) and UID (7) are notshown as answering “democrat” for the second QID+RID record 6110. IfUID(2) did not answer this particular question at all, while UID(7)chose the “republican” option, this could be taken into account whendetermining the results. For example, the results could instead statethat 80% of the females identified as “democrat,” be simply removingUID(2) from the pool and relying on a total female population of fiveinstead of six. Alternatively, the results could read as 67% of thefemales identified as “democrat,” 16.5% identified as “republican,” and16.5% as “undecided” to account for the one female who did not respond.It will be understood that these percentages are approximations and aremerely illustrative. They do not represent definitely how the systemwould round the percentages. It will also be understood that thedatabase may be configured in any way to allow for these association orsimilar associations. It will further be understood that these conceptscould be applied to any demographic group and any form of question, aswell as multiple demographics groups and multiple questions. It willalso be appreciated that the numbers used in FIG. 61 are small numbersfor demonstration purposes. The number of respondents could be anunlimited number.

Referring now to FIG. 62, there is illustrated one embodiment of anexample database report 6202 retrieved from the database in which queryand response data is stored. There is shown a title bar 6204 stating agiven name of the report. This name may be auto-generated or manuallyentered by the person running the report. There is further shown aplurality of query parameter columns 6206, labeled as “Query P1,” “QueryP2,” and “Query P3” for this example. In the last column is a resultsrow 6208. Each of the plurality of query parameter fields 6206 listsvarious query parameters that were run against the database, with eachrow of the report representing one full search.

For instance, a first row 6210 shown in FIG. 62 shows that a QID+RID fora gender questions with the answer of “female” was searched as parameter1, a QID+RID for a political affiliation question with the answer of“democrat” was searched as parameter 2, and a timestamp was searched asparameter 3. The “xx:xx” of the timestamp designates a wildcard, meaningany time of day is acceptable. Thus, the timestamp searched in thisexample limits the search to a particular day, but not a particulartime. It will be understood that the system could use any other methodof introducing wildcard characters. This provided a result of 67%,meaning 67% of female respondents also responded with “democrat.” Asecond row 6212 shows a similar query where the search provides thepercentage of respondents that affiliate with democrat who also arefemale, on a particular date (2015-10-30), with the result being 80%. Athird row 6214 provides yet another example where the search consists ofa asking for the percentage of females who answered democrat, butwithout limiting the search by a timestamp, resulting in a result of75%. A final example is shown in a fourth row 6216, where the search isfor females who chose Pepsi as their soft drink of choice, with a resultof 14.5%. Thus, this system allow for social measurements to be taken,as well as statistical extrapolation performed, as desired by the usersof the system. It will be understood that the example report shown inFIG. 62 is but one example. Other formats may be achieved depending onthe format of the report desired. Additionally, results may be inmultiple forms other than a percentage, such as raw numbers ofrespondents.

Referring now to FIG. 63, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting oneembodiment of a report generation method 6300. The method 6300 begins atstep 6302 where an individual authorized to use the system runs a queryor a series of queries against the database. These queries may havemultiple parameters to allow the results to be narrowly tailored to thedata the authorized individual desires. At step 6304, the databaseperforms the entered query or series of queries. At step 6306, thesystem outputs a report listing the results of the query or series ofqueries. The report may be similar to that shown in FIG. 62, or may bein other formats as well, as desired.

Referring now to FIG. 64, there is illustrated one embodiment of anexample seasonal database report 6402 retrieved from the database inwhich query and response data is stored. There is shown a title bar 6404stating a given name of the report. This name may be auto-generated ormanually entered by the person running the report. There is furthershown a plurality of query parameter columns 6406, labeled as “QueryP1,” “Query P2,” and “Query P3” for this example. In the last column isa results column 3108. Each of the plurality of query parameter fields6406 lists various query parameters that were run against the database,with each row of the report representing one full search.

For instance, a first row 6410 shown in FIG. 64 shows that a QID+RID fora gender question with the answer of “male” was searched as parameter 1,a QID+RID for a political affiliation question with the answer of“republican” was searched as parameter 2, and a seasonal timestamp rangewas searched as parameter 3. The seasonal timestamp range shown in thefirst row 6410 is 2015-04-05 to 2015-11-02 (Apr. 5, 2015 to Nov. 2,2015). This particular timestamp range corresponds to the major leaguebaseball (MLB) season in 2015. This provided a result of 65%, meaning65% of male respondents also responded with “republican” during the 2015MLB season. A second row 6412 shows a similar query where the searchprovides the percentage of respondents that affiliate with republicanwho also are male. The seasonal timestamp range for the second row 6412is listed as “2015 MLB Season.” This demonstrates that particularseasons may be designated as with unique identifiers which can beentered instead of requiring the user to know and enter a specific daterange for a particular season. The result of this query is shown to be78%. A final example is shown in a third row 6414 provides yet anotherexample where the search is for males who chose Coca Cola as their softdrink of choice, by using the seasonal timestamp range of “2015 MLBRegular Season,” resulting in a result of 45%. This means that thetimestamp range is that of the MLB regular season, not including anypostseason dates.

Thus, this system allow for social measurements to be taken based onseasons, as well as statistical extrapolation performed, as desired bythe users of the system. It will be understood that the example reportshown in FIG. 64 is but one example. Other formats may be achieveddepending on the format of the report desired. Additionally, results maybe in multiple forms other than a percentage, such as raw numbers ofrespondents. Further, the seasonal reporting could be applied to anytype of season, such as weather seasons, football, basketball, hockey,or other sports seasons, band touring seasons, Broadway musical seasons,or any other defined season.

Referring now to FIG. 65, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting oneembodiment of a seasonal report generation method 6500. The method 6500begins at step 6502 where an individual authorized to use the systemprepares a query or a series of queries to run against the database.These queries may have multiple parameters to allow the results to benarrowly tailored to the data the authorized individual desires. At step6504, the authorized individual enters in season or seasons, such asthose described above, in order to limit the returned results toresponses submitted during the particular season or seasons. At step6506, the database performs the entered query or series of queries. Atstep 6508, the system outputs a report listing the results of the queryor series of queries. The report may be similar to that shown in FIGS.62 and 64, or may be in other formats as well, as desired.

In the overall operation, a particular venue is initiated with a groupof attendees, of which a portion of those attendees may participate inanswering queries. Initially, the only knowledge that can be determinedis that there are a number of potential respondents. When the firstquery is posed, this can provide some information as to the makeup ofrespondents and, subsequently, the attendees in the venue. As morequestions are asked, more information can be determined about the groupas a whole with respect to the makeup thereof. This is to be comparedwith a polling system, wherein questions are asked of a random group ora group with a known makeup and it is the answers to these questionsthat provide a general trend. However, the makeup is fixed, i.e., forexample, the group may be known to the 50% associated with one politicalparty and 50% associated with a second political party and the responsesof the specific affiliates or any political party are analyzed againsteach other. By comparison, the analysis of the group or the trend thatthe group may have, i.e., political leanings, is a function of themakeup of that group, which is defined by the responses to a particularquery. As questions are asked, it can be determined what type of trendis present within a particular group of individuals. For example, anumber of conservative questions could be posed to the group and aresponse analyzed to determine whether that group trends toward theconservative or the liberal side. Another group of questions could beposed to the group and a determination made as to whether thatparticular group trended to high income tastes or to low income tastes.Thus, the trends of the group are a function of the responses of thegroup to a particular set of queries and, as these queries are made, thetrends will change, and because the particular makeup of the group willchange. This change in the makeup of the group is due to the number ofresponses that are provided, which is a direct function of the number of“eyeballs” that are glued to the communication medium through which thequeries are made. The responses are a direct indication of how manypeople are actually listing to the queries. As more and more people arelistening to the queries, the trends will be seen to change, due to thefact that the makeup has changed. It is important to note that the“makeup” is associated with the portion of the overall attendees thatare actually responding.

In some embodiments, analysis of responses to queries is used todetermine which query or media message characteristics are more likelyto trigger responses from event attendees. Turning to FIG. 66, there areillustrated representations of two presentations, presentation 6610(Presentation A) and presentation 6620 (Presentation B). In thisexample, both presentations are video advertisements for motor vehicles.Each presentation is characterized by a set of parameters (6612 forPresentation A, 6622 for Presentation B) which describe details of thepresentation. Each set of parameters indicates the type of motor vehiclein the presentation, the color of the motor vehicle, the environment thevehicle is in, and the weather portrayed in the presentation. Of course,each presentation can be parametized by any number of parameters aselements. The presence or absence of fireworks, for example, could bedistinguish one presentation from another. Each presentation isassociated with a query 6640 which be presented to the event attendeesfollowing the presentation. Query 6640 is the same query forPresentation A and Presentation B. Each presentation also has a responseset (6614 for Presentation A and 6624 for Presentation B) comprising ofthe responses by mobile unit users to the queries associated with therespective presentations. Finally, response graphs 6616 and 6626 plotthe magnitude of the number of responses in sets 6614 and 6624respectively to the queries presented after their respectivepresentations over time. By analyzing the information regarding howchanging the parameters affects the number of responses given by eventattendees, it can be determined which characteristics of a presentationare most likely to encourage active responses from the attendees. Thepresentations could be presented at the same venue at different times orat different venues.

Turning to FIG. 67, there is illustrated a flow chart showing theprocess by which parameters are analyzed to determine the best lifestyletriggers. The process starts with Start block 6702 and moves to functionblock 6704. At this point, the parameters for a presentation to bepresented are chosen. One or more of these parameters will be varied inthe future, or if the process has already occurred, is varied ascompared to a previous time the presentation was shown. Next, theprocess moves to function block 6706, where the presentation ispresented to the event attendees. The process flows to function block6708, where a query prompting a response is presented to the audience.Next, the process moves to block 6710, where query responses arereceived by the system. At block 6712, the responses are analyzed, withparticular focus on the magnitude of the number of responses at a givenpoint in real time for the presentation most previously shown. At thispoint, the process moves to decision block 6714. Here, a decision ismade as to whether or not another presentation will be shown. If so, theprocess loops back to block 6704, where parameters are again selected,this time varying at least one of the parameters as compared to the mostrecent presentation shown. If no more presentations are to be presented,then the process moves from block 6714 to block 6716, where theresponses to queries presented after each presentation are compared toeach other, with a particular focus on the number of responses receivedafter each post-presentation query. Finally, the process moves to block6718, there the results of block 6716 are analyzed to determine whichparameter choices result in the highest magnitude of query responses andare therefore the best lifestyle triggers for event attendees.

Some embodiments of the disclosure will vary only one parameter, whileother embodiments will vary multiple parameters. In some embodiments,one of the parameters varied is the time at which the presentation ispresented to the event audience. In some embodiments, the presentationwill be an advertisement. In other embodiments, the presentation will bean informative message. In other embodiments, the presentation will bean entertaining interlude. In some embodiments, the query presented willbe in the form of a question. In some embodiments, the query will promptattendees to vote for their preferred choice of something. In someembodiments, a parameter changed will be the music accompanying thepresentation. In other embodiments, a parameter changed will be thelength of the presentation or even the tempo thereof (slow or fast). Insome embodiments, a parameter changed will be the age of an actor oractress in the presentation. In some embodiments, a parameter changedwill be the ethnicity of an actor or actress in the presentation. Insome embodiments, a parameter changed will be the gender of an actor oractress in the presentation. In some embodiments, parameters will bechanged multiple times during a single event and presented to the sameevent audience.

Referring now to FIG. 68, there is illustrated a diagrammatic view ofone embodiment of recognizing an individual 202 entering a geo-fencedvenue. There is shown an individual 202 in possession of a mobile unit110. The venue has a geofence 6802 established that has a defined radiusaround the venue. Preferably, the radius of the geofence would notexceed the physical boundaries of the venue by much, if at all, so thatindividuals who are close enough to the venue, but still outside thevenue, are not recognized as entering the venue. The precise GPScoordinates defining the geofence may be established ahead of time. Amobile application saved on the mobile unit 110, such as the mobileapplication described hereinabove, may have saved within the applicationa series of geofence boundary coordinates, enabling the mobileapplication to recognize when it has entered into such a boundary. Asthe individual 202 passes over the geofence boundary, the mobile unit110 searches for its current GPS location. The mobile application on themobile unit 110 then recognizes it is within the geofence for theparticular venue, triggering the application to activate. Uponactivation of the mobile application, the individual 202 can bepresented with a screen to begin the rest of the processes describedhereinabove.

Referring now to FIG. 69, there is illustrated a flowchart depicting oneembodiment of a geo-fencing application trigger process 6900. Theprocess 6900 begins at step 6902, where an individual downloads a mobileapplication containing the GPS coordinates defining a geofence ormultiple geofences. At step 6904, the mobile unit searches for thecurrent GPS coordinates of the mobile unit. At decision block 6906, itis determining if the mobile unit is within the geo-fenced area definedby the downloaded GPS coordinates of the geofence. If the mobile unit isnot within the geo-fenced area, the process moves back to step 6904 tosearch again for the coordinates of the mobile unit. If, at decisionblock 6906, the mobile unit is determined to be within the geo-fencedarea, the process moves to step 6908. At step 6908, the mobileapplication is launched. Once the mobile application is launched, theindividual can be presented with a screen to begin the rest of theprocesses described hereinabove.

In general, a geo-fenced area can be defined by a fixed set ofcoordinates that define the boundary or by a single central GPScoordinate that just defines the venue. In the first example, this wouldrequire the mobile unit to compare its GPS coordinates with the set ofboundary coordinates to determine if it is within that boundary.However, since user must answer the ticket number as part of theprocess, all that is required is to launch the application and know thegeneral area and this can be achieved by using the latter example with asingle GPS coordinate. Thus, when the mobile unit of the user is withina predetermined range of any of a group of defined single GPScoordinates, each associated with a different venue, then theapplication will be launched. This additional information can, in analternative embodiment, be utilized to augment the unique code that isgenerated. The unique code, as described above, was defined as being acombination of the information from the ticket, i.e., the seat locationand the timestamp, but this also could include the central GPScoordinate for that venue, thus defining the venue in the unique codeassociated with that particular mobile unit.

In some embodiments, the venue at which the collection of statisticaldata occurs is the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the annual championshipgame of the National Football League (NFL), a professional Americanfootball league. Being the championship for one of the most popularprofessional sports leagues in the United States, the Super Bowlregularly enjoys exceptionally high television ratings when compared tomost other programs and sporting events. Since the Super Bowl is thechampionship game of the NFL, attending the Super Bowl in person can bevery expensive. It is reported that the highest face value ticket forthe 2015 Super Bowl was approximately $1,900. In fact, it is reportedthat, for the 2015 Super Bowl, the average price for a ticket on thesecond-hand market was reportedly over $4,000.

Because of the high price of tickets to attend the Super Bowl ascompared to tickets for other sports or entertainment events, thedemographics of the attendees most Super Bowl games are different thanthe demographics of attendees to regular-season NLF games, or even otherpost-season NFL games. Super Bowl attendees tend to be wealthier andbetter educated than the attendees of regular-season NFL games. For theSuper Bowl game that took place in 2007, the average visitor had ahousehold income of over $200,000 per year. Wealthy individuals are ahighly coveted target of advertisements, political messages, and othertypes of media messages. Because of this, any audience with a highconcentration of high-income individuals is an audience that advertisersand other parties wishing to deliver messages will want to reach.

Advertisers not only desire to deliver their messages to high-incomeaudiences, they often desire information about the individuals in theseaudiences, including their buying habits, political preferences, gendermake-up, ethnic make-up, ages, hobbies and even other sports interests.This means that such statistical information gathered from a high-incomeaudience like the Super Bowl is very valuable. Thus, in someembodiments, the statistical information gathering will take place at avenue in which an American football game event is being played, andwhere the average household income of the event attendees is over$200,000 per year. In general, a particular venue for a particular eventwill have associated therewith a particular set of demographics andattendee profiles, and these will be duplicative between events.

In one Super Bowl, the ethnic make-up of the attendees was as follows:73.7% white, 13.5% black, 8.5% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, and 0.5% other.Most Super Bowl games will likely have a similar ethnic make-up. Whiteswill likely make up 70%-80% of the attendees, blacks will likely make up10%-20% of the attendees, Hispanics will likely make up 5%-15% of theattendees, and Asians will likely make up 2%-10% of the attendees.Attendees to the Super Bowl may also generally not live close to thevenue the Super Bowl is being held. For example, in one Super Bowl, onlyabout 25% of attendees lived near the venue, while around 75% ofattendees did not, calculated from 799 valid cases.

TABLE 1 STATES OF RESIDENCE OF VISTORS TO A SUPER BOWL Maryland  25-35%California  21-31% Texas 7.5-15% Louisiana   7-15% Florida   3-10% Other 30-40%

TABLE 2 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS TO A SUPER BOWL Canada 10-20 Mexico 10-20Australia  1-10 Brazil  1-10 England  1-10 Mexico  1-10

TABLE 3 PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE STAYING OVER NIGHT AT A SUPER BOWL Yes70-80% No 25-35%

TABLE 4 OVERNIGHT VS. DAYTRIPPER A SUPER BOWL Daytripper Overnighter25%-35% 65-75%

TABLE 5 NUMBER OF NIGHTS STAYED IN VENUE'S CITY One Night  3-10% TwoNight 15-25% Three Night 25-35% Four Night 30-40% Five Nights or More20-30% Average # of Nights 3.6 Median # of Nights 4.0

TABLE 6 TYPE OF LODGING USED BY VISTORS TO A SUPER BOWL Hotel 70-80%Friends or Relatives 15-25% Private Home Rental 2-5% RV 2-5% Bed andBreakfast 1-5% Other 0.5-2% 

TABLE 7 NUMBER OF HOTEL ROOMS USED BY VISTORS TO A SUPER BOWL One Room75-85% Two Rooms 15-25% Three Rooms 3-8% Four Rooms or More  4-10%Average # of Rooms 1.7

TABLE 8 TRANSPORTATION USED BY VISITORS TO THE SUPER BOWL Airplane60-70% Personal Vehicle 30-40% Other  5-10%

TABLE 9 PRIMARY PURPOSE OF VISIT TO VENUE LOCATION Super Bowl 95-99%Other Vacation/Pleasure 1-5% Business/Convention 0.1-2%  Other 1-3%

TABLE 10 AVERAGE INDIVIDUAL DAILY EXPENDITURES OF SUPER BOWL VISITORSNational Football Overnight Regular Day- Other Day- League and itsVisitor Tripper Tripper Entitties $575 $680 $402 $718

TABLE 11 PARTICIPATION BY ATTENDEES IN SUPER BOWL ACTIVITIES Sunday -Super Bowl Game 70-80% Saturday - NFL Experience 30-40% Saturday - SuperBowl Boulevard 25-35% Sunday - Super Bowl Boulevard 18-25% Friday -Super Bowl Boulevard 15-25% Thursday - NFL Experience 12-20% Friday -NFL Experience 10-20% Wednesday - NFL Experience 10-20% Thursday - SuperBowl Boulevard  5-10% Sunday - NFL Experience 3-8% Tuesday - Media Day2-6% Saturday - Super Saturday of Service 0.5%-2%    

TABLE 12 NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN PARTIES OF SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES One person0%-10% Two people 40%-60%  Three people 10%-20%  Four people 10%-20% Five people 5%-15% Six people 0%-10% Seven people or more 0%-10%

TABLE 13 SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES WITH CHILDREN IN THEIR PARTIES No children55%-65% One child 15%-25% Two children 10%-20% Three children  0%-10%Four children  0%-10% Five children or more  0%-10%

TABLE 14 ANNUAL INCOME OF SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES Less than $25,000  0%-10%$25,000-$49,000  0%-10% $50,000-$74,000  5%-15% $75,000-$99,000 10%-20%$100,000-$149,000 15%-25% $150,000-$199,000 10%-20% $200,000 and above15%-25%

TABLE 15 ETHNICITY OF SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES White 65%-80%  Black 10%-20% Hispanic 5%-15% Asian 1%-10% Other 0%-10%

TABLE 16 GENDER OF SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES Male 60%-70% Female 30%-40%

TABLE 17 AGE OF SUPER BOWL ATTENDEES 18-24 years old  5%-10% 25-34 yearsold 20%-30% 35-49 years old 35%-45% 50-64 years old 20%-30% Older than65 years  5%-10%

Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail, itshould be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterationscan be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for interacting with audience members inan event, wherein the event has a finite number of participatingattendees selected from attendees of the event, each of theparticipating attendees having available thereto a unique identifier,comprising the steps of: for each participating attendee, creating aunique ID (UID) on a mobile wireless device (MWD) by the steps of:inputting to the MWD one of the unique identifiers; and combining theobtained unique identifier with a UID time stamp at the time of creationin the MWD to provide the UID; receiving with a server on a firstwireless channel communications from the MWD of each participatingattendee; registering the UID of each participating attendee at thephysical location of the event; generating at the server a visual query;displaying on a physical display at the event the visual query, whereinthe query relates to a plurality visual messages; displaying on the MWDof each participating attendee response indicators; receiving at theserver from each participating attendee a select response, each responseresulting from one of the participating attendees selecting one of theresponse indicators, to the query over the first wireless channel;storing in a database on the server the received responses inassociation with the displayed query; associating the respectivereceived responses with the respective UIDs; creating a query ID (QID)associated with the displayed query; creating respective response timestamp indicating the respective times at which the respective responseswere received by the server; creating a data record for the each UID,the UID data record including: the respective UID, the QID, therespective received response, and the respective response time stamp;creating a data record for the QID, the QID data record including: theQID; each of the respective received responses, each respective UID, andeach respective response time stamp; performing statistical analysis onthe QID data record; selecting, based on the statistical analysis of theQID record, one of the visual messages from the plurality of visualmessages; and displaying on the physical display at the event theselected visual message.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event isa closed venue.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein each unique identifieris a respective fixed location associated with the venue.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein each respective fixed location is a defined seat ina closed venue having a seat identifier as the location.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein registering each respective unique ID comprisesrecognizing each respective MWD at a predetermined and fixed locationwithin the venue.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein recognizing eachrespective MWD comprises a scan of the MWD in the vicinity of thepredetermined and fixed location.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinregistering each respective UID comprises responding to a request forregistration by transmitting the respective UID to a server over thefirst wireless channel.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the responseindicators comprise alphabetic symbols.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the response indicators comprise numeric symbols.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the response indicators comprise symbols ofdiffering colors.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at theserver a select response includes receiving a timestamp associated withthe response.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving at the serverselect responses includes receiving the responses within a defined timewindow.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating eachrespective received response with statistical information related to anattendee classification.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprisingassigning each respective UID to a statistical category based on therespective received response and the displayed query.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the UID data record also includes statisticalinformation that is related to an attendee classification and that isbased on the received response.
 16. A system for interacting withaudience members in an event, wherein the event has a finite number ofpotential attendees, each of the potential attendees having availablethereto a unique identifier, the system comprising: a first wirelesschannel; a mobile wireless device (MWD) for each participating attendee,each respective MWD configured to display response indicators and tocommunicate responses over the first wireless channel; a unique ID (UID)for each participating attendee, created on the respective MWD, each UIDcomprising: a unique identifier available to the respective attendee;and a time stamp indicating the time of creation of the respective UIDon the respective MWD; a server configured to generate a visual queryand to receive communications from each MWD over the first wirelesschannel; a physical display for displaying visual messages and thevisual query; and a database, on the server, configured to store aplurality of visual messages and to store responses that are receivedfrom the MWD and that are associated with the displayed visual query;wherein the server is also configured to perform a statistical analysison the stored responses, to select, based on the statistical analysis ofthe stored responses, a visual message from the plurality of visualmessages, and to communicate the visual message to the physical display.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the event is a closed venue.
 18. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the MWD is also configured to communicatetimestamps indicating the time at which the responses are communicatedover the first wireless channel.
 19. The method of claim 16, whereineach unique identifier comprises a respective fixed location associatedwith the venue.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein each respectivefixed location comprises a defined seat in a closed venue having a seatidentifier as the location.